Your War, Our Battle
by Crystal Prime
Summary: When three friends who view each other as siblings go to the Botcon being held in Jasper, Nevada, they get more than they bargained for. How will they fair in the world of the TV series known as Transformers: Prime?
1. Meet the Trine

**A/N: **Yay! Another new story! I hope you guys will like this one as much as I am going to enjoy it. Hmm, well not really a whole lot to say today. Nothing interesting has happened aside from posting the first chapter of Across the Galaxy, the co-op chapter of It's a Prime Adventure and this so far this week. Except I did get a 12 month membership card for Xbox LIVE Gold and played Escalation on War for Cybertron and it was awesome. :)

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Transformers. If I did, the Aerialbots would make an appearance in Prime. :)

**Summary: **When three friends who view each other as siblings go to the Botcon being held in Jasper, Nevada, they get more than they bargained for. How will they fair in the world of the TV series known as Transformers: Prime? Adventures will be had. Friendships formed. And enemies sent to the scrap yard. Or at least, enemies might be sent to the scrap yard.

**Chapter 1: Meet the Trine**

_~Wednesday, April 18, 2012~_

"Come on, come on! Booyah! We won!" I cheered as my siblings and I beat Trypticon on hard mode.

"High-five," Sci said and we all high-fived each other.

"I am so glad I came to kidnap you guys for three months," Jay said.

"Technically, we're in my house," I said. "So technically I kidnapped you guys."

"But we aren't staying here," Jay said. "And it was my idea."

"And it's not really kidnapping or my parents would've had the police after you two," Sci said.

Ok, I know what you might be thinking. Didn't I say they were my siblings? Why would our parents send police after us for taking Sci somewhere? Well, the thing is, we aren't really related. We are all from different families. Different states even. In fact, Jay lives on the other side of the continent than Sci and I do. Yet she was the one to drive all the way to New York, pick up Sci and then come to Ohio for me. Of course, then is when the car decided to have engine trouble. So we've been stuck here for a week while it was repaired by the mechanics in town.

"Where are we going again?" I asked.

"Botcon," Jay reminded me.

"For three months?" Sci asked.

"No, only for a week," Jay said. "The rest of the three months are going to be spent in a log cabin in California Crys's sister told us about."

"Gotta love having an outdoorsy sister," I said before taking a drink of my Pepsi.

Jay's phone began ringing so we paused the game and I got up to go fetch a snack, as my stomach was growling. I went down the stairs, almost pulling another case of clumsiness and falling down again, but catching myself before it even began. I then went to the kitchen and looked around for a snack. I decided on some apples, grabbing a couple of them and cutting them in as close to eighths as I could, taking the cores out as I did so and throwing the inedible part away.

"I got apple slices!" I called as I walked back up the stairs.

"How'd you know I was hungry, sis?" Jay asked, hanging up the phone and reaching for an apple slice.

"Because I was hungry," I said.

"I'm hungry too," Sci said and also began on the apple slices.

This had become the typical scene for the past week. The three of us played video games, mainly War for Cybertron, Sci and I wrote on our stories, one of us would get a call from someone or another, and we would eat. We may not be related, but the way we treat each other you would never guess. We acted just like siblings, which would go along with the fact that we adopted each other as siblings pretty much. An easy way to tell we weren't really related was how different we looked from each other.

Sci was the only guy of our trio, was the youngest and also the tallest. Standing at six feet and six inches, he was more than a foot taller than both Jay and myself. His hair was medium brown and was styled in a military buzz cut. His eyes were cobalt blue in color, which I was a little jealous of since I had always wanted blue eyes to match my grandma's. His skin was white, no tan, which was mostly cause it was difficult to get a tan up here in the northern states. He was clean shaven with a bit of stubble, which I found a bit odd for a boy his age, but when I thought about it that was the age my brother started shaving. He had above average build and couple that with his height he was quite intimidating when he needed to be. He was the youngest and newest member of our trio, but he was just as much a brother to me as Jay was a sister.

Jay was the first of the two that I had met, being my friend and sister for almost an entire year before Sci and I started talking when I started betaing his story. She wasn't as tall as Sci, but she was still taller than me by a full four and a quarter inches, standing at five feet and five inches. Her hair was a light brown and had blonde highlights. Whether it was that way naturally or dyed, I never bothered to ask, finding it unimportant. Her eyes were dark brown. She had an Autobot insignia tattoo on her right bicep. She had a good build for someone her size, I thought, and just cause she was a girl did not mean she was a pushover. If she wanted to, she could be just as intimidating as Sci could be. She fell into the middle in both age and height.

Me? I was the oldest of the trio, and the shortest. I was short, standing at five feet and three quarters of an inch, I had to look up to both my younger friends-turned-siblings. My hair was long and it spiraled into large curls toward the ends. It was dark brown in color, though there was some purple toward the ends, from where I had purple streaks put in my hair, along with a redish brown. My eyes were a chocolate brown, though in some lights they were a much lighter shade than in others. I thought I had a bit of a belly, though I knew I wasn't fat. I also knew that without the bit of belly that I had, I'd probably look starved the way my bone structure was. I was at a healthy weight for someone my height so I didn't worry about it. Unlike my two siblings, I was not very good at being intimidating under any circumstances. Save those that threatened those I cared about, whoever ticked me off would learn to fear an angry me in those cases.

"So who was that on the phone?" I asked Jay.

"The car people," she said. "The car's ready for pick-up. We just need to wait for there to be someone to take me to get it."

"And then we can leave tomorrow, yay!" I cheered.

The rest of the day was spent playing video games and watching a couple of the episodes of that new Transformers series, Prime. We all three loved it so far. After we got Jay's car, we watched the first of the Transformers movies made by Bay and then we turned the electronics off and just sat around talking.

"So where did you say Botcon was this year?" I asked.

"They're having it in Jasper, Nevada," Jay said.

"The same Jasper, Nevada that Prime is set in?" Sci asked.

Jay nodded. "They were going to have it in Mission City, but they had a vote and Jasper won out," she said.

"Sweet," I said. "Frankly, I like Prime better than I did the movies. Mostly because it's not as sad, since not as many Bots die."

"And we don't have a Prime gone mad either," Jay said.

"Sentinel's an idiot in the movie," Sci agreed.

"Plus, I think they did better on character development," I said. "We got no explanation for hardly anything in the movies. Bay screwed things with it when he killed off the femmes and excluded Sunny and made Sentinel evil and killed Hide and killed Wheeljack."

"Ok, we get it," Jay said, laughing a little at my clear frustration with Bay.

We were silent for a few moments.

"It was funny when Galloway got tossed out of that cargo plane, though," I said and then we all burst into laughter.

"Galloway's such an aft," Jay said. "He deserved that."

"Indeed," Sci said, grinning.

"If Galloway walked in here, I would throw my Pepsi at him," I said flatly.

My straight face only lasted a whole one second before the three of us laughed again. It would be hilarious to see that government jerk soaked in Pepsi, or get knocked out by the can. Once we were done laughing, I yawned.

"I think we should get some sleep," I said. "We have a couple day journey ahead of us."

"You mean a four day journey," Jayna said. "And I'm the one driving the whole time, cause _someone's_ too afraid to."

"I ain't about to have a repeat of last time," I said. "I'm not even very good at being a passenger anymore. I'd freak if you tried to make me drive."

"I know sis," Jay said as Sci pat me on the back, seeing my shiver.

We went to sleep at that point, Jay and me curled up on my bed and Sci taking the bed in the other room. My dog curled up for sleep where he was in between Jay and I, while my cat slept across the room on one of the book shelves.

**~The Next Day~**

_~Thursday, April 19, 2012~_

"Hey sis, wake up."

"Oh Crys~ Time to wake up."

I grumbled, rolling over and drifting back into my sleep. Unfortunately, my siblings weren't having any of that and I felt my blanket be pulled off of me. I growled, curling up into a tighter ball.

"Don't growl at us," Jay said, poking me in the side.

I groaned and waved my hand at the offending appendage.

"I thought you wanted to go to Botcon," Sci said.

I mumbled something unintelligible except for the word "tired".

"Oh gosh, sis," Jay said. "It's noon, you've been sleeping for twelve hours. Wake up! We want to leave at one."

"Fine," I said, stretching out and finally opening my eyes and grabbing my phone. I found that it was actually only ten. I narrowed my eyes at Jay. "I hate you."

"I love you too, sis," Jay said, grinning. "But seriously, we do want to leave as soon as possible."

"Ok, ok, I'll get dressed," I said.

It was only about fifteen minutes in total before I was dressed, hair brushed and ready to go. We took about five minutes to put our luggage in the trunk of Jay's car, an Audi she had gotten landed with from a friend of her brother's. Another fifteen was taken to pack snacks and drinks into a couple lunch boxes and take them out to the car, and another five to say bye to my family. A total of forty minutes after Jay and Sci had woken me up, we were piling in the car and taking off toward Jasper, Nevada and the Botcon that had been the initial cause of Jay's idea to get us all together.

"Four days in a car," I said. "Which means four days with no writing or reading."

"That's ok, we'll pass the time with other ways," Sci said.

"Why don't we play truth or dare?" Jay suggested.

"That's a horrible car game," I said. "How are we supposed to do the dares? Plus the driver shouldn't be doing dares."

"True," Jay said.

"Random songs?" I suggested.

"Like what?" Sci asked.

"Like this one," I said. "This is the song that never ends, it just goes on and on my friend. Some people started singing it not knowing what it was. So it just goes on and on and on. Cause it's the song that never ends…. So on and so forth. Or John Jacob Jimmerheimersmit."

"Or The Song That Gets On Everybody's Nerves," Sci added.

"The ants go marching on and on and on," Jay sang and we all laughed.

"I don't know if it's sad we still know all those songs or not," I said, amused.

"They're from our childhoods, it's not sad," Jay said.

"I only heard them once in my childhood though, and I still know them," I said. "Too bad my memory isn't that good for chemistry equations, I might've gotten better than a C minus."

"At least it's better than the D you thought you were gonna get," Sci said.

"True," I said.

"Why did you think you were gonna get a D?" Jay asked.

"I failed to do the essay," I said. "And I failed both the midterm and the final. Plus I didn't do the Mastering Chemistry. It is a miracle I got a C minus average."

"Girl," Jay said. "You were a slacker in that class."

"Only in that class though," I said. "I suck at the paper work of chemistry. I did good on the quizzes and in lab though. And I worked hard in my other two classes, getting an A minus in one and a B plus in the other."

"I bet if you put as much effort into that class as you do your writing, you would've gotten an A," Jay said.

"Most likely, considering before college I never got anything below an A in any science," I said. "I even got an A in physics, even though I hated that class. I did great in my high school chemistry class."

"Huh," Sci said. "It must be the professor, you did say he was hard to follow."

"Indeed he was," I said. "And I did try to follow him. I have pages and pages of notes to prove it. But the man doesn't know how to dumb it down for us not-as-smart-as-he people."

"What is he a genius?" Jay asked.

"Yeah," I said. "He and his buddies blew up a river when he was in college."

"How do you blow up a river?" Jay asked.

"I don't remember what he used," I said. "Poor fishies though."

Jay and Sci hummed in agreement.

That was pretty much how the entire trip to our first motel went. It had been fairly difficult procuring the money needed for this trip, but we had managed. Even with the road block of the car breaking down, we still had enough to go through with it and enjoy it. I couldn't even describe how happy I was to be able to take this little vacation with my siblings. I had needed this vacation for a while and it only made it better with them with me. We had been able to book rooms at our checkpoints, one at each, and we even had some money that we could stop at a restraunt to eat if we wanted to, as long as it wasn't too expensive anyway. We had booked a room in a hotel in Jasper to stay in for the week.

**~Four Days Later, Jasper, Nevada~**

_~Monday, April 23, 2012~_

"Finally! We're here!" I cheered, dropping my luggage on the floor of the middle area between the bedrooms of the hotel room, which had a TV and a couch.

"So who gets what room?" Sci asked.

I shrugged. "Up to you guys," I said, I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. "I just want to do something active after sitting in a car for four days straight."

"Where are you going?" Jay asked as I headed back for the door.

"A walk," I said. "I need to do something active."

"Not alone you're not," Sci said. "We'll all go. Just let us put our stuff down too."

I rolled my eyes, but didn't protest or complain. I was perfectly fine with all of us going for a walk. We all probably needed the exercise after such a long car ride. I knew if my limbs and muscles were stiff then their limbs and muscles probably were too. Besides, there was never a dull moment when the three of us were together. Aside from that, I knew they weren't going to let me go walking alone in unfamiliar territory. I was actually happy about that, cause as much as I pretended I didn't mind walking alone, it did get lonely and sometimes creepy even back home.

"Alright, ready," Jay said as they joined me by the door.

We walked out of the hotel room, locking the door behind us, and then out into the warm Nevada air. I breathed in the dry, non-humid air of the Nevada desert, relishing the fact that I could breathe better here than back at home.

"Alright, what way are we going?" Sci asked.

"How about that way?" I suggested, pointing to our right.

"Sure," Jay said.

"That's fine with me," Sci said.

We began walking off in that direction. Sci and Jay talked, but I mostly listened, putting in my input only now and again as we walked. I didn't talk much, because I was mostly too busy looking around, trying to familiarize myself with the town. That, and I was deep in thought about what I was gonna do for the next chapter of one of my stories. I was kinda stuck, not really knowing what I was gonna do with it in that chapter. I needed some kind of plot bunny for it, but I wasn't getting anything.

"Hey Crys," Jay said, pulling me from my search for a plot bunny. "Do you remember what bag our map was in?"

"Yeah," I said. "It's in with my netbook."

"Hey, look," Sci said, stopping us and pointing.

Jay and I looked to see the source of Sci's stopping us. Across the street was a restraunt we were quite familiar with, KO-Burger. The place where Jack works in the Prime series. We had only seen the first couple episodes, and only up till Optimus and Ratchet left to check something out, but we still recognized the place easily. It did, of course, have the same sign as it did in the series.

"Want to get something to eat?" Sci asked.

In answer my stomach growled, so I nodded my head.

"Sounds good," Jay said.

We walked over to the restraunt and entered, glad it had an eat-in area. We walked in and up to the counter where we ordered some food before taking a seat in a booth in the middle of the restraunt. There were only a few other customers in here, all wearing some kind of Transformers memorabilia. It would figure that the restraunt would get business from all us Transfans, at least the ones of us who have been watching the new series, Prime, episodes. Among them appeared to be a married couple with a young boy, a couple groups of teenagers-one with three guys and the other with three girls- and then a teenage couple who were being quite obvious about being a couple. All of those people had some kind of Transformers memorabilia, such as the Autobot and Decepticon hats the teenage couple wore or the t-shirts a couple others wore. I wondered if the workers thought we were all insane.

"Everyone in here must be here for the Botcon," Sci noted.

"You bet we are!" one of the teenage girls proclaimed, apparently overhearing him.

"Of course they are," I said. "We're all clearly Transfans. Why else would we be eating this greasy food except in homage to the newest Transformers series, which happens to also be the most awesome." I took a bite of my burger.

"Amen," Jay said. She took a bite out of her burger as well and we savored eating the food from our new favorite series together as Sci started on his.

We ate, holding a conversation about what we hoped would come of the show. It was a very fun conversation, as were the majority of conversations held between the three of us. We also talked about other things, during which we discovered Jay had never heard about the Thirteen beyond Revenge of the Fallen. Sci and I, and I wouldn't be surprised to find out some others, just stared at her for a moment before I declared we would educate her when we returned to the hotel. Midway through our meal, my stomach was full and I stared at the remainder of my food, stomach churning a bit at the thought of eating more.

"You alright, sis?" Sci asked, looking at me in concern.

"I'm fine," I said, covering my mouth as I inevitably burped slightly. "I don't think I can eat anymore of this though. I stuffed myself too much."

"It's probably the grease," Jay said.

I nodded. "I think I'm gonna wait for you guys outside," I said. "I need some air."

"Ok, we'll try to be quick," Jay said.

"Don't rush on my account," I said before getting up and walking outside.

Once I was outside, I took a deep breath of the fresh air. I looked around and then did a double take when I had thought I had seen Jack Darby from Prime climbing onto his ten speed bicycle. When I did look again, he wasn't there and there was no evidence suggesting he, or anyone else, had actually been there. I rolled my eyes at myself, figuring my head was just playing games with me. I was about to sit down on the curb to wait for my siblings to finish their meal when a sound caught my attention. It sort of sounded like a frightened cat and some kids being mean to said frightened cat.

"What idiots are torturing the poor creature?" I grumbled as I stalked toward the noise.

I turned around the building to find a couple teenage boys throwing rotten eggs at a poor mechanical looking cat. Said cat was backed against the building, ears folded back and covered in slimy egg goop.

"Hey!" I yelled at the boys. "Leave the kitty alone!"

The boys stopped and looked at me, pausing in their onslaught.

"What are you going to do about it?" one boy asked as the cat went to move.

"Who told you, you could move?" a second boy snapped at the cat.

I picked up a couple rocks. "Well, we could see how hard your heads are," I suggested.

"I bet you can't even hit us," the boy who hadn't spoken yet said.

"Are you willing to risk I can?" I asked. "Cause if I hit you, you won't get a chance to fight back."

"Fine," the seemingly leader said. "We'll leave."

Once the boys were out of hearing range I sagged and sighed. I was definitely glad they had not called my bluff. My aim was not horrible, but I didn't really like the idea of knocking them out if it could be avoided. I did not care for violence. I was distracted from my thoughts by something rubbing against my leg. I looked down at the mechanical cat, that was about the size of a golden retriever puppy that had grown to about half its full size.

I knelt down and the cat stopped and looked at me, a soft purring sound coming from it. "You are a sweety when you decide you like someone," I said, petting the cat even though it lacked fur. It was surprisingly warm to the touch as it looked at me with large yellow glowing optics. "You look an awful lot like a Cybercat, but how'd you get here? Cybertron doesn't even exist in this reality."

The cat mewed, sounding more like it was just a kitten now.

"Crys!" I heard Sci call out.

"Back here! Come here!" I called back.

My siblings soon came around the corner and came to over to see the Cybercat.

"Holy cow," Jay said. "That looks Cybertronian."

"If I'm right it is," I said. "No idea how it got to this reality though."

"Why's it covered in egg goop?" Sci asked.

"Some idiot boys," I said. "We should take it back to the hotel with us. Clean it up and see what we can do for it."

"The hotel has a no pet rule," Jay said.

"But this cat doesn't look like a pet," Sci said. "We could pass it off as an item."

I frowned. "I don't like it," I said. "Cybercats are not items."

"The hotel staff doesn't need to know that," Sci said. "It's that, or leave it here."

I sighed. "Fine," I said. "Come here, kitty." I lifted the Cybercat into my arms, glad it didn't protest being carried. It was heavier than I had expected, but still not too heavy for me to carry without looking like I was having difficulty.

"Alright! Let's go," Jay said.

We made the trek back to the hotel, thankfully not being stopped by anyone about the Cybercat I was carrying. When we reached the hotel, Jay and Sci walked between me and the hotel clerk in hopes that it would hide the Cybercat from him. Once we were through the lobby, we dashed into the nearest elevator that would take us to our floor. Unfortunately for us there was a person in the elevator. Fortunately, though, they were not a Transfan and couldn't tell a Cybercat from a robot cat so we survived. When we finally reached our hotel room, I went to the bathroom, which had a tub, and I set the Cybercat down on the floor.

"Here," Jay said popping in the bathroom to toss some of my clean clothes and a couple towels in.

"Thanks," I said and then she closed the door. "Alright kitty, let's get that egg goop off, shall we?"

I turned on the water in the tub, making sure it was warm enough that it wouldn't freeze the cat or myself, but not too hot for either of us. I really hoped this wouldn't end up short circuiting something, but most fanfictions depicted that the Bots took showers. Judging by the Cybercat's clear lack of fear it wasn't gonna be a problem, but that didn't mean I didn't worry. Once the water was a good temperature, I put the plug in and put some soap in so the soap would intermix with the water. There was a shower area I could use to spray down us both to make sure all traces of soap was gone.

"Come on, pal," I said, lifting the Cybercat after I had stripped off my egg goop covered clothes. "Time for us to get clean."

I gently lifted the cat onto the side of the tub before climbing in myself. I cleaned the goop that had gotten on me and in my hair first, knowing I would've had to leave the poor thing sudsy for a bit if I cleaned it first. I knew I could handle being sudsy, but I wasn't sure if it would damage the cat any. Once I was clean, I helped the cat into the water, keeping hold of it so it didn't go underneath with one hand as I cleaned it up with the other. It purred when I rubbed just behind its audios and I couldn't help but smile. Once the cleaning was done, I rinsed us both off the best I could before unplugging the tub. Then, deciding it would just be annoying, and I'd probably hurt myself, to try to clamber out of the tub and to the shower, I ran the water again and used a cup to rinse us the rest of the way.

"Alright, done," I said. "Now, let's dry off and join the others."

I set the Cybercat on the side again as I climbed out, being careful not to fall, and then helped the cat to the ground. It slipped a little, but I caught it with a towel before it could fall or go sliding. I dried the cat off before drying off myself and getting dressed into the clothes Jay had given me. The shirt was my Jesus Beat the Devil shirt and the pants were my pair of capris with a flower on one of the legs. I threw the dirty clothes into the laundry basket to be washed at the end of the week and did the same with the towels.

"Come on, kitty," I said, walking toward the door. The Cybercat followed behind as if it understood and was obeying. "Let us go see if we can't figure out what we're gonna do with you." _I hope we keep you_, I thought as I opened the door.

As soon as the Cybercat was free from the bathroom, it ran off to explore its temporary quarters. I chuckled lightly as I went into the main area, where Jay and Sci had already made themselves comfortable with a movie. I flopped down in the empty spot and grabbed a handful of popcorn. The movie in was Transformers, which I had seen like a thousand times, but was still a good watch.

"So anyone have any ideas how a Cybercat ended up in our reality?" I asked.

"I dunno, but we can't take it to Botcon with us," Sci said. "Too many people who would recognize it for what it is."

"True," Jay said. "But we can't just send it out on its own. Will it be fine here by itself?"

"It'll be fine," I said. "Cybercats are much like Earth cats in many respects. I'm more worried about feeding it. It's not exactly like Energon exists in this reality."

We all were silent as we each took in what that meant in the long run.

"Are we sure this doesn't mean we went to its reality?" Jay asked.

"Us and every other Transfan we saw on the way home?" I asked.

"One way to find out," Sci said.

"To the internet!" I declared and ran and grabbed my netbook.

I sat back down in between my siblings and opened my small laptop, turning it on as I did so. Once it was loaded, I connected to the hotel's network and then opened Firefox as my sister and brother squeezed as close to me as they could so they could see. My wallpaper was still the same as it had been since I had last changed it, which was always a TF pic, but that didn't necessarily mean anything. The window opened to my homepage, which was fanfiction, so I simply logged in and then went to my profile.

"Everything is still here," I said. "My Transformers references, my fanfics, my favorites, which are mostly Transformers. I do not think that we are in the Transformers universe."

"Yet," Jay said, grinning at the prospect that it might happen.

"Check to see if that wiki is up," Sci said.

I clicked on my bookmark for said wiki and it came up to the site's home page. We searched some more for Transformers stuff just because at that point we were just curious as to what we could find.

After a while, I leaned back and yawned. "It's late, we should get some sleep," I said. "Tomorrow we'll have to figure out how to fix our problem." I yawned again.

"Indeed," Jay said.

Jay went to one bedroom, Sci went to the other and I just curled up on the couch. This was, of course, after much debate on what we were gonna do. In the end, I had declared that I was much too lazy to move and convinced them to let me take the couch for the night. We would figure it out better tomorrow.

"Oh, hi there," I said, looking up slightly when the Cybercat jumped up and laid itself down on top of me. I rubbed its head and it purred. "Night little kitty." I said and then we both drifted to sleep.

**~The Next Day~**

_~Tuesday, April 24,2012~_

"There's so many Transformers things," I said, looking around with wide eyes.

"That's why it's called Botcon," Sci said, sounding amused that I was acting the most like a five year old, despite being the oldest.

"Ooo let's go over here," Jay said and led the way over to a booth.

We walked over to the booth and looked at what they had. They had a bunch a different jewelry type items, so Sci and I weren't as interested as Jay was. Even though she wasn't the only girl, she was the only one who liked being girlie. I was more on the tomboy side. There were some Autobot necklaces, but I was happy with the one I had.

"We should go over there next," I said, pointing at the booth holding many different Transformers Prime action figures.

"Sweet, just a sec," Jay said. She got herself a pair of earrings of the Prime symbol before joining us to go to the other booth.

"This booth is officially my favorite booth in the entire place," I said, looking at the action figures.

"We haven't even been to but two booths," Sci said.

"I don't care," I said. "This one has an accurate Primeverse Optimus Prime!"

"Does it transform?" Jay asked.

"It does," the person manning the booth said.

"How much?" I asked.

"Fifty bucks," the person said.

"Hmm, is it worth it?" I wondered out loud. Part of me said it was worth much more, but part of me didn't think I should spend that kind of money on it.

"Sis, I've seen those on Amazon for a hundred and two dollars," Sci said.

"It's worth it," I said and handed over the money. "Because I know I'll eventually buy it anyway."

"Smart move, saves you money," the person behind the counter said with a smile.

"Yup," I said. "And I get one of my favorite characters from my new favorite series too. Double win."

The person and my siblings all chuckled. Then the Ratchet figure caught my eye.

"What about the Ratchet?" I asked.

"Fifteen," the person said.

"Sold," I said and bought that one too.

"Geez, sis, don't spend all your money at one place," Jay said.

"Eh, I still got plenty left of my share," I said. "Besides, you know I can't resist an accurate Ratchet."

The person behind the desk chuckled again. "He your favorite?" he asked.

"Yup," I answered, putting my purchases in my bag as Sci got the figure of Arcee.

"Hey look a booth for Fall of Cybertron," Sci said, pointing.

"Sweet!" Jay and I said before dashing over ahead of him.

The two of us were looking at the brochure they had with information about the game when Sci walked over and grabbed one he could look at.

"I cannot wait for this game," Sci said.

"I hope it's as awesome as War for Cybertron," I said.

"It looks like it will be," Jay said. "Oh look, Jazz!"

She grabbed the Jazz toy and paid for it before putting it in the bag with my purchases as Sci and I looked on in amusement. We then continued through the large expanse, covering as much as we could before lunch time. We eventually came to a booth where they were selling miniatures of the relics of the Thirteen. We each chose one to get, me getting the Blades of Time, Jay getting the Star Saber and Sci getting Solus's Forge. By the time we got back to the hotel for lunch, we each also had a new Autobot insignia. We each had gotten an Autobot insignia keychain that also had a little figure of Optimus in Primeverse.

"What do we want for lunch? Pizza?" I asked as I set our bag down, oblivious to the slight glow each of our key chains gave. Sci caught it though.

"Hey, our key chains just glew and then stopped," Sci said.

"Weird," Jay said.

"Odd," I said. "I thought things like that only happen in fanfictions." I looked down at the key chain attached to my belt loop.

Sci shrugged as the Cybercat we had taken in jumped on the couch and then walked onto my lap after I sat down.

"I still want to know how this little girl got here," I said.

"How do you know it's a girl?" Jay asked.

"It acts like a girl," I said.

"Well, I'm calling for pizza," Jay said. "Two large pepperonis if you guys don't mind."

"I love pepperoni," I said. "Can we get onions on one?"

"Sure," Jay said.

"That's fine with me," Sci said.

"I'm getting on the net while we wait," I said, grabbing my netbook from the stand next to the couch.

As Jay ordered the pizza, I got on fanfiction and logged in before pausing. My username was no longer what I had it as, but was my previous username of JediFanPadawan. Narrowing my eyes, I looked at my profile to find my avatar to be the symbol of the Republic rather than the picture of the Generation 1 Aerialbots. I really liked that picture…

"What's that expression about?" Sci asked, seeing my glare.

"Transformers is gone," I said.

"What?" Jay asked as she hung up from calling for pizza.

"Transformers is gone," I repeated. "Everything related to it is gone from my profile."

I did a web search for Botcon and got nothing. I also searched for Transformers and couldn't find anything about the movies, TV series or games. The wiki had disappeared as well. Our stuff we had bought at Botcon were still with us, and the Cybercat, but everything else from Transformers was gone. The three of us shared a worried look.

"We're not in Kansas anymore," I said, quoting from the Wizard of Oz just to show how weird this was.


	2. Complications

**A/N: **At 6,572 words, this chapter is done! :D I really hope you guys enjoy it. I worked really hard on it and enjoyed writing it very much.

**Author's Replies:**

**Jayna Prime: **Glad you liked it sis. :)

**Sci-Fifan95: **Indeed lol. Glad you liked it. :D

**Plagueblood90: **My spellcheck says differently. Plus I reread it and found nothing wrong. So yeah. Glad you enjoyed it though. What's wrong with long chapters? I love long chapters. :D The game is a foot, huh? Left? Or right? lol

**Laeila Tsukiyomi-Storm: **Glad you like it. Me? Give up writing? :o *gasp* Of course not!

**Mikaela the Cat: **Thanks! Glad you like. ^.^

**Sailor Shinzo: **Thanks. Wait no more as an update is here! *grin*

**Catty: **Thanks! :) Update is here!

**Vivian Hale: **Lol. I am glad you enjoyed the first chapter. ^.^

**KayleeChiara: **Yeah, Sci is a tally. Lol. Glad you liked it.

And now! The continuation of Your War, Our Battle. :D

**Chapter 2: Complications**

_~Tuesday, April 24, 2012~_

"So," Jay said. "What's the plan?"

"Hunt down this little girl some Energon for one," I said, petting the Cyberkitten lightly as she lazed on my lap. "The lack of it is starting to affect her." We had all noticed the dimness her optics had taken on during her time with us.

Sci nodded. "We don't want her to kill over, true," he said. "But where are we supposed to find Energon?"

"I don't know, but we have to do something for her," I said.

"Well then," Jay said, getting to her feet. "Let's go. Sitting here and debating about it won't find the little girl Energon."

"True," Sci and I said at the same time. The three of us shared a look.

"We did it again," Sci said.

"Indeed," I said.

We gathered our stuff before leaving, coming to the decision to check out of the hotel before leaving. We weren't sure how long it would take us to find Energon for the Cyberkitten and we didn't want to pay for days when we weren't here. We had to sneak the kitten out like we did when we brought her in. Once everything was once again in Jay's car, we headed out.

"So any idea where we're going?" Jay asked.

"No clue," I said.

"No idea," Sci said at the same time.

"I guess we'll just keep driving until we find something, then," Jay said.

We drove through the part of town we needed to in order to reach the highway that would take us out of town. Once we were on the highway and out of town, the scenery was simply a vast desert with some tall cliffs littering the place. As we turned a curve, I noticed a cliff that was in the same shape as the one the Autobot base resided in.

"And to think, we may have just passed the Autobot base," I said.

Jay grinned. "It'd be pretty sweet if we had caught one of them coming out or going in," she said.

"If we are in the Prime reality," Sci said. "It's possible we're in a different one."

"I have reason to believe we are in Prime," I said.

"What reason is that?" Jay asked.

"Well," I said. "When we were at KO Burger, when I went outside for a brief moment I thought I saw Jack, but only for a very brief moment."

"Interesting," Sci said.

"Indeed," Jay and I both said.

We continued the drive through the desert, not really knowing where we were going or how we would know when we reached there. We kept our eyes peeled though for anything out of the ordinary, not really sure what we were looking for. How did one find Energon without the equipment to do so with? It was hard to say for sure. We knew what Energon looked like, but we didn't know how to find it.

**~Two Hours Later~**

"Guys, I don't think this is working," Jay said.

"No, it's not," Sci and I both said.

We had been driving around for two full hours now, not always staying on the road. Whenever it was clear, we drove off the road to go search other places. We figured we wouldn't locate Energon alongside the road, or if we did it probably wouldn't be a good sign. We had moved very far from where we had passed what we had thought could be the Autobot base. We figured they must not have picked up on the Cybertronian signature of the Cyberkitten yet, considering we weren't being followed or stopped.

"And I'm getting hungry," I said. "We conveniently forgot to wait for our pizza."

"I wonder who will pay for that," Sci said.

"We're gonna have to stop anyway," Jay said. "The engine is smoking."

"Again?" I asked incredulously. "We just had it fixed!"

"Let's try to get in that parking lot," Sci said. "That way the car won't be in the way."

"I'll try," Jay said.

She made the honest effort of pushing the car to drive into the parking lot. Unfortunately, it stopped moving before we got there. So, to get it out of the entrance way, Jay remained in the driver seat to steer while Sci and I got out and pushed it along. It wasn't easy, but we managed to get it in a parking spot after a lot of pushing and a couple coming out and helping.

"Oh my gosh cars are heavy!" I breathed, leaning against the back driver side door.

"They tend to be," one of the men who helped push it to the parking spot said, looking amused.

"This reminds me of the time Mom and I broke down on Route 23 back in Ohio," I said. "We had to push that car too…"

"This is the second time this car has broken down," Jay grumbled, getting out of the car.

"In the past two weeks no less," Sci said.

"Stupid car," I said and if I weren't so tired and hungry, I would've kicked the tire.

"Lenny here can take a look," the man who spoken before said. "He's good with cars."

"Thank-you," we all said at the same time, causing the man to shake his head.

"In the meantime, why don't you come inside," the man suggested. "You all look hungry."

As if his words were a que, my stomach growled. So we agreed and followed the two men who weren't Lenny inside after I fetched our kitten as Jay grabbed our money. They didn't inquire about the strange mechanical cat thankfully. We learned that the one who had spoken was named Bill and he was the owner of this restraunt we had found ourselves at. The second guy who wasn't looking at our car was Jimmy and he was apparently the head chief, but didn't say much. Apparently, they had thought he was a mute for a while. But he did speak once in a great while. Apparently it made the other cooks nervous, but they did their job well, otherwise they would be fired.

We sat down at a table and were given menus to order off of. We just each got a burger and fries with some water to drink with it.

"What about your little pet?" Bill asked. "It looks hungry."

"Oh she doesn't eat anything you could give her here," I said. "We're actually out this far because we are searching for what she does. The less you know about that, the better."

"I see," Bill said. "Your food will be ready in a little bit."

We nodded and then he left to give our order to the cooks. We were silent as we waited, not wanting the other patrons to overhear us talk about our situation. A couple of people, two teenaged boys came in and sat in the booth behind where Jay and I sat. They started a conversation, but it wasn't interesting to me so it didn't give me anything to focus on. At least, until they mentioned something very interesting.

"Hey man, do you know anything about glowing blue crystals?" one of the boys asked his friend.

The three of us reacted immediately to this sentence. We shared a look, sitting up a little straighter.

"Glowing blue crystals?" the boy's friend asked. "There is no such thing."

"I'm serious!" the first boy said. "If you go north up the road from here for about ten miles and then leave the road to the right, go into those canyons there you'll see what I'm talking about in a cave that's there."

"You're crazy man," his friend said. "I ain't doing that."

We ignored the rest of the conversation as our food arrived. We all had come to a silent agreement, we were going to go up the road ten miles and go to that canyon. A life depended upon those glowing blue crystals, which sounded to us to be Energon.

I reached over and rubbed our Cyberkitten behind the ears, noting as she purred slightly, but made no other indication she enjoyed the rub. I frowned, looking at my food and then back to the kitten. I sighed and then turned to my food and began eating it. I ate slowly, not really feeling all that hungry knowing the kitten was starving. My appetite had gone down greatly knowing that while I was eating, she was still starving.

_Soon,_ I told myself.

We were about halfway through our meal when Lenny came in, wiping his hands off on a rag. He walked over to our table and we looked up at him.

"So what's the verdict?" Sci asked.

"There was a leak in your coolant tank," Lenny said. "I patched it up and refilled your coolant, so it should work just fine now."

"Thanks," Jay said.

"Um, could I get a to-go box?" I asked. "I'm full."

"Yeah, me too," Jay said.

"Make that three," Sci said.

"Sure thing, I'll tell Chef to get you some," Lenny said.

"Thanks," I said.

A few minutes later we handed over our payment for our food and the repair job along with a tip. We packed our leftovers in the to-go boxes and then went out to the car, kitten in hand. We left, heading in the direction we now knew we could find Energon in. Sure enough, ten miles north of the restraunt was a canyon to the right. After making sure no one would see us, we turned off the road and drove into the canyon. After a few minutes of driving through the canyon, the terrain became too rough for the car and we had to get out and leave it behind.

"Where is this cave supposed to be?" Jay grumbled as we climbed over some rocks.

"I dunno, but we need to find it," I said, glancing at the Cyberkitten that Sci was carrying.

"Hey look," Sci said.

We did. And we didn't like what we saw. While we had found the cave, that was not all we found. It appeared that the boy from the restraunt was not the only one who had found this Energon. Decepticons now littered the open area beyond the rocks we were climbing over. They were carrying out Energon from a cave in the rock wall to the right, which meant we were clearly in the right place. Unfortunately that also meant that it would be that much harder to get the Energon for our Cyberkitten friend.

"Ok, one of us is gonna have to go get the Energon," I said. "I am usually quite good at going unnoticed."

"You're not going alone," Jay protested.

"We'll all go," Sci said. "We just need to hide the kitten so they don't find her and offline her."

Jay and I nodded.

"Right," I said.

We moved backward, heading back to the car we had left behind. When we just close to the edge of the rock cropping, we moved to the bottom of the rocks and Sci set the kitten down in a nook just big enough to fit her in. I went back to the car and fetched a container we could put some Energon in. We then made the trek back to the Energon mine and surveyed the scene from a hiding spot just on that edge of the rock cropping.

"How many Cons do you see?" Jay asked.

"I see at least fifteen," I said, counting the Cons just outside the cave.

"And a couple snipers, but they aren't looking this way," Sci said.

"Plus any in the cave," I said.

"Looks like they're just getting started," Jay said.

"I think we should try to get some out of that cube that's on the ground over there," I said, pointing to a cube of Energon that sat by the cave entrance. "I think it's our best bet."

"Seeing as how it's the only one we can reach," Sci said. "I think you are right."

We snuck through our rocky hiding place until we knew we had to leave the safety of our cover. We waited until the Cons all had their backs to us before we darted to the next logical hiding spot. We ducked behind the large boulder that was about a fourth of the way to our intended destination just before a Con looked our way. We remained ducked underneath, hesitant to even look out from our new hiding spot for a couple minutes. When we did look out, we found the coast clear again and breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Our next cover was about ten feet away and our path would take us in the line of sight of one of the snipers. We had to time our dash right as well as be quick about it. We each waited, preparing for the dash as Sci watched the sniper to know when we were clear as we watched for other Cons on the ground. The moment our coast was fully clear, we dashed out from our hiding place and ran as fast as we could. By the time we ducked behind the stack of Energon cubes we knew we couldn't scale, I was out of breath and panting heavily. We took a few moments to regain our breath and rest in preparation for our next dash.

We had the cover from the stack of Energon cubes for about fifteen feet, so we had that length without having to worry about being seen. At least unless a Con decided to look behind them for whatever odd reason. Our next dash brought us to a line of boulders that provided our cover for about ten feet. After that we had one more dash until we reached the Energon cube we had our eyes on. By now, a couple more cubes had joined it, but it hadn't been stacked yet, which was good luck on our part.

"Are we clear?" I asked, looking around as we peeked out from our hiding place.

"Looks like it," Sci said.

"Let's go," Jay said, pushing me lightly forward.

We moved toward the Energon cubes, keeping low to the ground and moving as fast as we could. When we reached them, we ducked behind one as a Con passed, setting a cube down on top of one of three cubes we were by. Instead of leaving, the Con simply turned and began talking with another Con, his back to us. We shared a look, knowing we couldn't just wait around as our position left us easily spotted if a Con bothered to look. There was also the very real fact we had a starving Cyberkitten waiting and the fact that they could pile more cubes at any moment.

"Ok, we can't wait," Jay said. "Let's get the Energon and get out of here."

We nodded and then moved to get the Energon. We were already by a cube with nothing on top, so we just had to figure out a way to get some out. In the end, we decided that Jay and Sci would lift me to the cube, since I was shortest so they could potentially get me higher than we could get Jay. Each boosted me up by a foot, getting me to where I could just scoop some Energon into the container I had brought.

"Come on, sis," Jay said.

"Got it," I said, closing the container as tightly as I could.

They were helping me back to the ground when the Con on the other side suddenly took a step back, knocking over the cube we had just stolen from. We all fell over, me landing hard on my back. Luckily, the container didn't burst open or get lost in the process. Unfortunately, we weren't the only things that fell from the bump. The cube fell over as well, covering all three of us in the blue liquid. I hissed a little in pain as we got to our feet, flinging the substance off us.

"Not good," Sci and I said at the same time.

"Move!" Jay whispered urgently and we darted behind the nearest cube just before a Con walked up and reached for the fallen cube.

We breathed a sigh of relief when the Con walked away with the half empty cube without seeming to notice us. Ignoring the pain from the Energon, which was poison to humans if fanfictions were correct, we dashed back to the cover of the line of boulders. Once in our better cover, we wiped off as much of the Energon as we could as we made our way back to the other end. Our trip was slower, because we had to try to ignore the effects of having Energon spilled on us, but we eventually made it back to the rock cropping, thankfully without being seen. At that point, we made as much of a beeline as we could back to the Cyberkitten.

When we made it back to the Cyberkitten, we picked her up and got in the car, Jay driving off in a direction away from the Decepticons. By now, the Energon we hadn't been able to wipe off was gone from our skin, though our clothes were still covered in it.

"Does Energon evaporate?" Jay asked.

"I didn't think it did," I said, giving our Cyberkitten the Energon we had stolen. She began eagerly lapping it up and I breathed a sigh of relief when her optics shown brighter to show that she was getting her energy back.

"From what I understand it is poison to humans," Sci said.

"That would explain why I'm in pain," Jay said.

"Just find somewhere we can hide," I said. "There's no sense in trying to drive all the way to town while in pain. I doubt it would end well."

A half hour later we were quite far from the Cons and there had been no sign they had followed us. We had left the canyon area and came to a different canyon valley. The Cyberkitten had finished off the Energon, a testament to how badly she had needed it. She was ok now though, her optics glowing bright yellow as they had when I had first found her.

"It's getting late," Jay said. "I'm gonna pull over."

"Good thing we have camping supplies," I said as we stopped.

We got out and went to begin setting up, but I froze when a burst of pain flooded through my body. I was vaguely aware that my siblings seemed to be in pain as well and that there was a faint glowing coming from our key chains just before I passed out.

**~The Next Day, Midday~**

_~Wednesday, April 25, 2012~_

The first thing I was aware of when I came to was that I was still in pain, though it wasn't as bad as it had been. I was also aware of the feeling of something liking my face.

"Crys," Jay's voice reached my ears, though it sounded a bit different, more metallic somehow. "Crys, wake up."

I grumbled and opened my eyes, expecting to see my sister hovering over me with an annoyed express since I wasn't waking up very fast. However, instead I was met with the sight of a metallic face with blue optics. Confused, I sat up and held my head. I paused at the feel of metal and looked at my hand, finding that it was made of metal.

"What?" I asked. "What happened?"

"Not sure," Jay said.

"We just woke up to find we're giant robots," Sci said. "Cybertronian presumably."

"Weird," I said, staring at my hand. "You would think getting Energon spilled on you would slowly kill you, not change your species."

"I noticed our key chains were glowing just before we all passed out," Sci said.

"They did that just before we found ourselves here as well," Jay said. "Maybe they are the cause of it."

"For what purpose though?" I asked.

"Who knows?" Sci asked. "Why has any of this happened to us?"

"Good point," I said and reached down, petting the Cyberkitten, who meowed at me before purring.

Our appearances were tremendously different now that we were no longer human, as one would expect.

Sci was the tallest still, now standing at forty-five feet, appearing to be built for battle. His armor was mostly black, though he had a large silver mark on each side of his helm that we weren't sure what it meant. He had wings on his back and wheels on his pedes, leading us to believe that he was probably a triple-changer with both an air mode and a ground mode in addition to his bipedal mode. His optics were the same cobalt blue as his eyes were as a human and shone brightly. For all intents and purposes, he looked exactly how I had pictured his OC from his story, Fate Calls, would look like.

Jay was the middle in height again, just like when we were human. She stood at twenty eight feet and her armor was mostly dark blue, though there were some lighter blue accents on some of her parts. Like Sci, she had a silver mark on either side of her helm as well, though it was different than his was. She also had wings on her back, but no wheels, which meant she would only have an air alt mode and no ground vehicle. There were runes on her wings, painted in silver as well, but I couldn't tell you what they said either. It was easy to see she was a femme, as she just had that look about her. Her form was a lot curvier than Sci's was, which would be expected. Her optics were an icy blue color and shone brightly.

From them I learned that I stood at twenty seven feet, leaving me the shortest. My armor was mostly a royal purple in color, though I had some silver on my chest armor, arm armor and leg armor. The silver parts of my armor shifted shades as I moved, which I found awesome. Like my siblings, I also had silver markings on the sides of my head, different than either of theirs. I had wings on my back, which also had some of that shade-changing-silver, and no wheels, so like Jay, I would be able to have an air alt mode, but no ground alt mode. I was not as curvy as Jay, though she said it was easy to tell I was curvy, but my armor hid much of said curves. My optics were cyan blue and they shone brightly as the others' did. I also discovered that I had what appeared to be a pouch on the right side of my hip and when I looked inside I found what appeared to be two different kinds of grenades and a type of mine. But we weren't that concerned with what our weapons systems were as of yet.

"So," I said. "What are we going to do now? It's not like we can go back to town and say 'Hey can anyone direct us to some flying vehicles? We need to blend in.'"

"No," Sci agreed. "Going back to town isn't an option."

"I think we should rename ourselves," Jay said, grinning. "We're obviously not human anymore, our names don't really fit anymore."

"We also need to name our Cyberkitten friend," Sci said.

"I got a name for her," I said, petting the kitten that was curled up on the hood of the car. "If you guys like it."

"You're the cat person, sis," Jay said. "Whatever you name her, I'm sure it's great."

"Plus you are the one who found her," Sci pointed out. "Rightfully, she's yours."

"I suppose," I said, quite content with that as I rubbed her behind her audios.

"So what's the name?" Jay asked cheerfully.

"I thought I'd name her Freedom," I said. "After all, it's an important concept." I smiled as the kitten purred and stretched out her fronts paws.

"Sweet," Jay said.

"That's a good name," Sci agreed.

"I think you should go by the name of your OC," Jay said. "You do share her shade changing uniqueness."

"Shadebreaker?" I asked. I grinned. "I like it. What about you guys?"

"I kinda like the name Stormbreaker," Jay said. "That, or Skybreaker."

"Hmm, I think Stormbreaker sounds better," I said.

"I agree, it fits you better," Sci said.

"Stormbreaker it is then," Jay said. "What about you Sci?"

"I kinda like the name Pathbreaker," Sci said. "Cause I'm built for battle, so it would make sense. I could break a path through the enemy lines."

"Sweet!" Jay…Stormbreaker…said. "I like it! And that means we all have names that end in 'breaker'."

"Oh, yeah, we do," I said and laughed a little.

"We're The Breakers," Sci, now Pathbreaker, said, grinning.

"Indeed!" I said, also grinning.

We were silent for a few moments before any of us spoke again.

"So what now?" Stormbreaker asked.

"Well, we can start by getting used to our new bodies," I said.

"True," Pathbreaker said. "We are not used to being Cybertronian."

Stormbreaker nodded and stood up. Pathbreaker and I also stood up. We then spent the next several hours familiarizing ourselves with our systems, trying to figure everything out. I discovered that if I thought hard enough about how I was functioning then my systems would run a self-diagnostic. Through my accidental trigger of said event, I discovered that I was running on a half full tank of Energon. In other words, I was what was considered malnourished. A couple minutes and a stumbled through explanation of how I had run the diagnostic later, we discovered that my siblings had the same problem. I supposed that made sense.

We also discovered that when it came to adapting to a dramatic change in size, Pathbreaker was the most adept. He took mere minutes to get to where he didn't stumble around, but Stormbreaker and I fell a lot for much of those hours before we regained our sense of balance. I couldn't tell you how many times I face-planted in the meantime. If Cyberkittens could laugh, I was sure Freedom would be laughing at all of us by now. We would've tested our weapons systems, but we decided that it would be a waste of Energon. Speaking of which…

"What are we going to do for Energon?" I asked. "It's not like we can go back and steal some more from that cave. The Decepticons have their villainess hands in it already. We can't go so easily unnoticed now that we aren't tiny compared to them. Or even get to the other canyon unnoticed."

"Maybe we can find some around here," Stormbreaker suggested.

"It's worth trying," Pathbreaker said.

"I agree," I said.

We got some of our stuff, things that were more sentimental than anything, from the car and put it in our subspace, which took about thirty to figure out how to do, before I picked up Freedom and held her to my chassis. I rubbed gentle circles on her helm as we began walking around. We made sure to stay in the canyon area, to avoid being seen by any humans. It was getting dark when we came to a cave, which we decided to use as shelter, at least for now. Unfortunately, there appeared to be no trace of any Energon and a quick diagnostic showed that I was down to forty five percent on Energon. I assumed it was a similar case for my siblings.

"We should get some rest," Pathbreaker said. "We'll continue our search in turns tomorrow."

"Sure," I said, yawning as I stretched a servo above my head.

I found a spot and laid down on the cold rock surface. Freedom curled up next to me and Stormbreaker and Pathbreaker both chose spots not too far from us. We took turns keeping watch during the night, Stormbreaker volunteering the first shift and Pathbreaker volunteering for second. Each shift would last for three hours of the night, allowing us each to get ample sleep, or recharge I guess.

**~The Next Day~**

_~Thursday, April 26, 2012_

"Alright, who's gonna go search first?" Stormbreaker asked.

"I will," I volunteered.

"Alright," Pathbreaker said. "Make sure you return in an hour, whether or not you find anything."

"Will do," I said, giving him a salute.

"Alright, when you get back, I'll take over the search," Pathbreaker said. "And Storm', you can have last search."

"Gotcha," Stormbreaker said.

"Alright, see you in an hour," I said.

I walked away from our cave and went in a direction we hadn't come from on foot. It would be quicker if we had alt modes and could fly over the canyon and search. But since we didn't, we were limited to searching where we could walk. I knew it limited us greatly, but we couldn't be too concerned with that at the moment. Our main focus was seeing about finding Energon. I did wonder if we could possibly just make our way to the Autobot base, but they probably wouldn't be too happy to find unknown bots at their door unannounced. Also, it was too big of a risk that someone would see us and we knew that wouldn't go over well with the government.

I sighed as I climbed over some boulders, that seemed to be merely large rocks to me now. There were so many things to consider that I wasn't sure how we would get by if we remained out here indefinitely. For one thing, we now needed Energon to survive. It wasn't like one of us could simply use the now abandoned Audi as an alt and drive to the base. Even if Pathbreaker, since he is the only one who can have a ground mode, did do so, it might not actually solve our problem.

"Why can't things just be simple?" I sighed before something caught my optics.

Something shiny was sticking out of the sand. I paused and looked at it momentarily. Curious, I walked over and bent down to retrieve it, but before I could wrap my fingers around it to pull it out of the sand a shot zoomed right by me and hit the sand.

"Back off Con!"

The demand had me backing up and holding my servos up in surrender. "Whoa! I'm not a Con!" I said in automatic defense. "Shouldn't you know who you're shooting at? Geez."

"Bulkhead, assuming an enemy may just make an enemy out of a possible ally," a blue, red and silver mech told the mech that had shot at me. He turned to me. "I apologize, many seekers joined Megatron at the beginning of the war. It is rare to find a neutral, especially out here."

"Don't worry about it," I said, lowering my hands down and standing nervously. "I understand completely."

"I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots," the mech said. "This is Bulkhead and Bumblebee. Might I ask who you are?"

"I am Shadebreaker," I said. "I am…well it's kind of a long story who I am. But me and my siblings are simply trying to find some Energon."

"Siblings?" Bulkhead asked. "If there are more of you, where are they?"

I pointed toward where I had come from. "Back where we are currently taking shelter," I said.

"Perhaps we can be of help," Optimus said.

"I dunno, I still don't trust her," Bulkhead said, not bothering to lower his voice.

_Understandable,_ I thought to myself.

"That does not mean we can't lend a hand, Bulkhead," Optimus said simply. He turned back to me. "If you want our help."

Even if I didn't know I could trust these mechs, I had my siblings to think of. And a quick diagnostic told me I was at twenty five percent in my Energon reserves. Like it or not, we needed the help.

"Any help you could give us would be greatly appreciated," I told him politely.

"Well then," Optimus said. "Lead the way."

I did, though they paused to find out what it was in the sand. It turned out to be an arm of a Decepticon.

"A severed limb?" I said in bafflement. I looked around. "It doesn't look like a battle took place here."

"It may have been here a while," Bulkhead said. "Are you sure you're not a Con?"

"I'm pretty sure if I was one of them losers I'd have run away by now," I said. "I am new to the whole thing…I am not a Con, though at the moment I am also not a Bot."

"A neutral," Optimus nodded as we walked toward where my siblings were waiting.

"I suppose you could say that," I said with a sigh.

Bumblebee whirred and chirped something.

"Yeah," Bulkhead said, clearly agreeing with Bumblebee. "What does that mean?"

"It's not exactly a believable story," I said. "I still don't really believe it and it happened to me. But it is a story that can wait. I'd rather get some Energon for my siblings and our Cyberkitten first. Before we all starve to death."

"Understandable," Optimus said.

"So how come you're searching on foot?" Bulkhead asked as I continued to lead them through the canyon.

"I do not, at this point, have a vehicle mode," I said. "My siblings don't either. As I said, we are new here and have not yet had a chance to get our vehicle modes."

Bumblebee whirled and chirped.

"That would make things difficult," Bulkhead agreed.

I remained silent from there as I led them. We climbed over the boulders and came to the other side. It was only a couple minute after that when we entered the cave. Stormbreaker and Pathbreaker looked up from a conversation they were clearly having when we entered.

"Hey guys," I said. "I'm back."

"With company," Pathbreaker said.

"This is Optimus Prime, Bulkhead and Bumblebee," I introduced the Bots to my siblings even though I knew they already knew who they were. "And these are my siblings, Pathbreaker and Stormbreaker. And our Cyberkitten, Freedom."

"Hi," Stormbreaker said.

"What's up?" Pathbreaker greeted. He gave a polite nod of his helm, which Optimus returned.

"So how'd the search go?" Stormbreaker asked as I walked over. She stood, only to nearly fall back down, but I caught her before she did so. "Good gosh, my energy levels are really low."

"Unsuccessful, unfortunately," I said. "But Optimus Prime said they would help us out." I looked over at the Prime and I could feel the pleading in my optics, even as Pathbreaker stood, picking Freedom up as he did so.

"Indeed," Optimus said.

He commed Ratchet for a Bridge, telling him to prepare med bay. It wasn't long after that that a Ground Bridge activated and the three Bots escorted us through it and into their base. As soon as we were on the other side, we were ushered to the med bay and the white and red mech there, Ratchet, ran scans on all of us.

"Your Energon levels are dangerously low," he said. He sent me a hard look. "Yours even more so. Any lower you'll be in stasis."

I rolled my optics at the annoyance in his tone. We just got here and already he's annoyed with us. I figured my levels would be lower, seeing as how I had been the one running around in search of Energon.

Ratchet practically shoved cubes of Energon into our servos as he continued to run medical scans on us, mumbling to himself as he typed some info on the computer. He didn't neglect to give Freedom some as well, of course. As we were drinking our Energon, Bulkhead and Bumblebee ended up having to leave to help Arcee with something. After they left, Optimus turned to us.

"Perhaps now is a good time to tell us your story," he suggested.

I saw Ratchet pause and turn slightly to listen before going back to work. I knew he was still listening though, even as the others and I shared a look.

"This is going to be really hard to believe," Pathbreaker said. "But forty-eight hours ago, we were human."

Ratchet froze in his work and even Optimus looked thoroughly shocked by this.

"That's ridiculous," Ratchet said incredulously. "How could a human become a Cybertronian?"

I shrugged. "I don't know," I said. "We think it had something to do with that Energon that spilled on us though."

"Hold on," Ratchet said. "If you were human before, how do you know what Energon is?"

"As a long story gets longer," I sighed.

Ratchet raised an optic ridge at me, but his attention switched to Stormbreaker when she spoke.

"We are from an alternate reality," she said. "Where you guys are fictional characters in a TV show."

Ratchet's jaw dropped in disbelief.

"It's true," I said, bringing both bots attention back to me. "Where we are from, you are nothing but fiction. Well, to our knowledge anyway. TV shows, movies, video games, comics, and even a couple novels. Such is the only places you exist where we come from."

"We were actually at what is called Botcon before we arrived in this reality," Pathbreaker said, causing the mechs to look at him. "A convention dedicated to the Transformers franchise."

"Strangely enough, even though everything else disappeared from there," I said, pulling a small bag out of my subspace a little clumsily. "Our purchases from there didn't. So we have proof." I carefully pulled my Optimus figure out of the bag and showed it to them.

They were silent a moment as they took this in.

"How did you become Cybertronian?" Optimus asked once they were certain we weren't lying.

"Well, we think that our key chains we had bought at Botcon have something to do with it," Pathbreaker said.

"And the Energon that got dumped on us while we were stealing some for Freedom," Stormbreaker added.

"That was not a happy occurrence," I said, making a face. "Energon is very harmful to humans…If it weren't for whatever those key chains did that changed us, we would be dead most likely."

"Hmm, such a drastic change would account for the stress your systems are under," Ratchet murmured.

"It was very painful," Stormbreaker said.

"I second that," I said.

"Third," Pathbreaker said.

"I am sorry to hear you went through pain," Optimus said.

"Don't apologize for something that isn't your fault," I said. "If anybody is to blame it's the Con who obliviously knocked over the cube of Energon that soaked us in the stuff."

"Decepticons?" Ratchet asked.

"Yeah, they were mining Energon," Pathbreaker said. "We needed some for Freedom. It was steal their Energon or let her starve to death. So we snuck some."

"Luckily, they didn't see us," Stormbreaker said.

"We just got Energon spilled on us in the process," I said. "And then we ended up like this."

"So you do not have anywhere to go," Optimus surmised and we shook our heads. "You are welcome to stay here, though we will have to prepare rooms for you. Until then you will remain in med bay."

"They need to anyway," Ratchet said. "Until I can be sure their systems all function properly."

And so, we were confined to med bay. What fun…


	3. Training and Stuff

**A/N: **For those of you who don't know yet, I am in a war with Satan. And so far the enemy is losing. :P Other than that, nothing much interesting has happened recently. Went on a nature walk last Sunday with some friends and had some fun then. It had been a while since I had been hiking and I enjoyed it very much. I much prefer using my feet to using wheels. Lol. And I also love nature and just being outdoors in general. Not to mention it's much better for my breathing than city air. I could breathe better.

**Scripture of the Update: **Still part of my war on Satan. Nothing makes him madder than a child of God sharing the Good Stuff. :D

"_Trust in the Lord with all you heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." ~Proverbs 3:5-6 New King James version_

I love that scripture.

**Author's Replies:**

**Jayna Prime: **Glad you enjoyed it sis. ^.^

**Sci-Fifan95: **Indeed we would. :) Ah, he was just suspicious. Glad you liked the designs. ^.^ And glad you liked the chapter as a whole. :D

**GalaxyWarrioress1234: **Lol. Glad you liked it. :)

**Luna Prime- Awesomeness: **Lol. You'll just have to wait and find out on that. ^.^ Glad you liked it. :)

**Sailor Shinzo: **Thanks! Glad you liked it. :)

**KayleeChiara:** ^.^ It is OC(original character). Glad you liked it.

**Mikaela the Cat: **Indeed. :D

**Lambor Terror Lep: **Thanks! :D

**Vivian Hale: **Hehe. She may not mind Ratch', but she does mind being confined. Lol. :) Glad you like it so far. ^.^ Tell Jazz I said good luck on his mission. :)

**Reitzel-chan: **Thanks. ^.^ I am glad you like it so much. :)

And now! On to the chapter! :D

**Chapter 3: Training and Stuff**

_~Thursday, April 26, 2012~_

I didn't really mind staying in the med bay all that much. It was quite interesting listening to Ratchet lecture us on our new bodies and what it meant to be Cybertronians. And Optimus was sure to make sure we knew about the war and stuff, which we were quick to take their side on. It was even made official when we got Autobot insignias branded into our wings. That part made me especially happy and I couldn't fully sit still since the moment mine were in place. Even as Ratchet tried to finish up his lectures, I was bouncing up and down in my seat and looking anywhere but at him.

"Shadebreaker, are you paying attention?" Ratchet demanded, holding a wrench in his servo.

"Yes," I said. "I can bounce around and listen at the same time, I promise."

"What did I just say?" he asked as my siblings both watched the exchange with amusement.

"That we need to be sure to take our Energon twice a day and we are not allowed on any missions until our training is complete and you will be unhappy to have to repair us for being stupid," I summed up his entire speech in just one sentence.

Ratchet stared at me a moment, as if amazed at the fact that I really was listening. My siblings just grinned and chuckled at the situation. I was feeling pretty proud of myself too, though my bubble burst when Ratchet moved on to the next topic. When he said he wanted us to know everything before leaving the med bay, he meant everything. That included….well, the Cybertronian version of The Talk. You know, the birds and the bees and all that. Now I had never gotten the human version of that and I thought I had done just fine without it. So part of me really didn't want to hear it, because it disturbed my innocent mind. But then part of me tried to be realistic, how would I know what situation to avoid if I didn't know what the situation was that I should be avoiding. In the end I tried to listen and was soon disturbed by mental images I wished had never entered my mind. That was the problem with having a vivid imagination.

Ratchet gave us a few more scans and a data packet containing the ins and outs of the Cybertronian language and then released us from the med bay. I was tempted to ask him if there was any brain bleach, though I suppose it would be processor bleach, but I reframed because I wanted to avoid any questions that might have brought up. So I just simply joined my siblings in leaving the med bay in favor of the main area, where we found that the others had returned, and with them a blue femme Autobot we all recognized as Arcee.

"…and the Cons would've been scrap metal if I hadn't been distracted by the human," Arcee was saying.

The three of us shared a look as Optimus answered her.

"Human?" he asked.

Bumblebee beeped something and I was mildly surprised to find that I understood him. The bots had needed to learn how to understand him in the books, so I had been expecting to need to learn as well. But it appeared that learning would be unnecessary, we would just have to learn the Cybertronian language.

"Two boys," Optimus said, looking only minutely away from the computer screen he was looking at.

"I guess a second one saw us in action," Arcee said, sounding a little unsure. "I don't know. I was a little busy at the time."

"If the Decepticons are targeting us, anyone perceived as our ally will be at grave risk," Optimus said. "My request is that you bring them here after their school day tomorrow, so that I may speak with them about this matter."

"Gotcha," Arcee said as Bumblebee beeped an affirmative.

It was about then that they noticed us and Bee chirped happily, seeing that we had been released from the med bay. Arcee narrowed her optics though.

"Who are they?" she asked Optimus.

Optimus turned from the computer to look at us. "Our newest additions to our team," Optimus told her. "They are new to everything, so I ask you be patient."

Arcee nodded in understanding. "We could always use some extra help," she said. "I'm Arcee."

"I'm Pathbreaker," Pathbreaker introduced himself. "And these are my sisters, Stormbreaker…" Stormbreaker grinned and waved enthusiastically. "and Shadebreaker." I gave a small wave of greeting.

"I hope you're ready to kick some can," Arcee said, smirking as Bulkhead joined us.

"Um, well, we've not actually have used weapons before," I said, rubbing my helm sheepishly.

"You've never had to fight off Cons? I figured even neutrals would've had to defend themselves," Bulkhead said.

I sighed and shared a look with my siblings. Then we shared our story with the three bots who hadn't yet been told our tale. Needless to say they were shocked, and hesitant to believe us. At least, they were hesitant until Ratchet chose to show up and inform us all that he had found very trace remnants of human DNA in our systems, though the amount was so small he hadn't noticed it at first.

"Now, if you don't mind, you need to have your weapons systems tested out," Ratchet said.

Pathbreaker and I nodded as Stormbreaker grinned a little. I was only sort of looking forward to our battle training. It would be fun and all training, especially with my siblings, but I would prefer it if we wouldn't have to use what we learned in actual battle. I didn't like the idea that we would have to fight, but at the same time I knew it was necessary. As the Jetfire of Revenge of the Fallen said, if the Decepticons have their way, they'll destroy the whole universe. They had to be stopped here and I certainly didn't want to be useless. I would fight when I needed to, but that still didn't mean I would like it.

We took an elevator down quite a ways, which made me fidgety, since I didn't like enclosed spaces and with five bots-my siblings and I, Ratchet and Optimus, the others would follow next round-in the elevator it was a bit crowded. I shifted on my feet as the elevator went down and I had a feeling it was very clear I was not comfortable in the small space. When we finally stepped out of the elevator, I was relieved to not be confined anymore, though there was still that nagging feeling of un-comfortableness, though I could hide it easier. I had learned when reading Exodus that flyers didn't like being underground-it put us at a disadvantage since we couldn't fly-so I figured it was probably something to do with that. Pathbreaker seemed just fine, but I could tell Stormbreaker had a similar nagging feeling, though I somehow got the feeling it wasn't as bad. I had never liked being underground to begin with.

"You alright sis?" Stormbreaker asked.

"I'm fine," I said. "Not a big fan of underground though. It has always made me feel…I dunno…confined? Even as a human I never particularly cared for it."

"Understandable," Ratchet noted. "Seekers don't usually like being underground."

"I feel just fine," Pathbreaker said, giving concerned glances toward me and Stormbreaker.

"Triple-changers don't have a problem," Ratchet explained. "You still have use of your ground mode, while seekers are limited because they cannot fly underground. It creates a feeling of vulnerability due to the limited space."

"Makes sense," Stormbreaker said. "But I'm not too concerned. I prefer to fight up close and personal."

"Meh, I'd prefer more space to move," I said. "I don't do well with small spaces outside of a fight. Much less in one."

"I could work with either," Pathbreaker said. "When necessary."

"Ironic," I said. "The smallest of the three of us is the one with issues with small spaces." I grinned, to show that I was joking and there was a good amount of humor in my voice.

My siblings both chuckled, clearly also seeing the irony in that.

We arrived at our destination before anyone could say anything else. There was definitely a lot more space in here than there was in the hallway. There was an area that appeared to be for sparring, a shooting range and an obstacle course. The course looked interesting to me, as I always enjoyed things like that, though I hoped I would be better at climbing rock walls than I was as a human. I figured that this would be where we would train.

"This room is called The Safe," Ratchet told us. "It is where we train for battle. Now, we need to test your weapons first so go over to the shooting range."

"Who's first?" Stormbreaker asked.

"I'll go first," Pathbreaker said, clearly eager to test out his weapons.

"Test the ones in your servos first," Ratchet told him. "And choose a target."

Pathbreaker activated his servo weapons, which were easy enough to recognize. He had a Scatter Blaster in his right servo and an X-12 Scrapmaker in his left. He fired the Scatter Blaster first, aiming at one of the cars that were in the target area. I guessed when improvising you couldn't really be picky. When the bullets from his shot hit the car, it not only left bullet holes in the side, but completely disintegrated the roof. It would probably be most effective when fired at close-range. Which followed with what I knew of the weapon from using it in War for Cybertron. The Scrapmaker he aimed at the hood of the same car-why waste targets?-and it fired at a very rapid rate. He fired an entire round into the car and it was completely lacking a front end at the end of it.

Ratchet had him test some weapons that were in his shoulder joints next. About then was when Arcee, Bulkhead and Bumblebee arrived to join us in the weapons range. I could tell that Arcee didn't quite trust us at this point, but that was understandable. Bulkhead was wary too, but he seemed more relaxed around us now that we wore the Autobot insignia. They joined us on the sidelines, Arcee standing between me and Bumblebee as Bulkhead stood on the other side of Optimus, who was on the other side of Stormbreaker than I was.

Pathbreaker's shoulder weapons consisted of two large missile launchers. From what I could tell from the sidelines, they probably had quite the capacity. He completely blew up six cars-two of them being large vans-and two tanks with the missiles. Needless to say we were all quite impressed with the destruction. Next were the weapons located in his back-plates-he had quite the amount of weapons in my opinion. The two weapons he pulled from his back-plates were easily recognizable for me and very different from each other. They were both two of the most powerful weapons in the game War for Cybertron that we always grabbed when possible.

In his right servo was a six-barreled version of the Ion Displacer. He tested it out first, firing it at the targets across the room. It fired at an even more rapid rate than Pathbreaker's Scrapmaker had. I remembered the Ion Displacer being described by someone as a Scrapmaker on steroids and it was easy to tell how the comparison could make sense. The weapon completely tore through the cars that were hit by it and even the armor of the tanks was practically paper against the fire power of the Ion Displacer.

"I think I found my favorite weapon," Pathbreaker grinned as he replaced that weapon to his back-plates. He chuckled a bit as he did so.

I couldn't help but be amused at his words, even as I reflected to myself that I almost felt bad for any Decepticon to find itself pitted against my brother. Almost. I also vaguely found it a little amusing that he seemed to have pretty much the same weapons as his OC from his story.

The other weapon he had pulled from his back-plates was a very large Nucleon Shock Cannon. It was larger than the Ion Displacer, though it only had one barrel. When he fired it at a building that was in the shooting range-I was glad no one lived in that building-it made a 'thump' noise as it discharged. It fired into a window and exploded with the same power as one of the missiles he had launched earlier. He took another shot, but this time he charged his weapon, which wasn't a typical attribute of the Shock Cannon, but I didn't question it as it was probably a modified version The weapon gave off an intimidatingly loud whine as it charged and when he fired it, the entire building disintegrated. I wasn't sure about the others, but I was pretty sure my mouth was agape and Arcee had to push it close for me to snap me out of it.

"I don't think I should use that very often…" Pathbreaker said, chuckling. He replaced the weapon to his back-plates and then deactivated them. He joined us at the sidelines.

"Shadebreaker, let's test yours next," Ratchet said. "According to my scans you have a weapon in your right servo, a firing weapon in your back-plates along with a melee weapon also contained in your back-plates. As well as some grenades. We're just gonna test your ranged weapons for now."

"Ok," I said, my voice quiet with my apprehension. I loved blowing up Cons on the video game, but actually holding weapons was different.

I moved to the shooting range and activated my servo weapon. The weapon was familiar as were all of Pathbreaker's had been. It was also easily identified as a Plasma Cannon. A quick diagnostic of it-though it took me a moment to figure out how to do that-told me that, unlike other versions of the weapon, it didn't require charging before being able to fire a shot, but had the option for a more powerful shot. I aimed at a building and fired a shot on the non-charged setting, curious as to how powerful it was at that setting. The ball of plasma energy soared through the air to collide with the side of the building, exactly where I had aimed. The shot disintegrated a gaping hole a little larger than Bulkhead's wrecking ball. While no Bot would be able to fit through it, a human would easily be able to use it as a door.

More out of curiosity than really wanting to be sure the charge function worked, I charged my weapon for a few micro-kliks. When I was sure the charge cycle was completed, I aimed the weapon at the middle of the side of the same building-again, why waste targets?-and fired. The recoil was enough to knock me off my pedes since I was unprepared and I fell right onto my aft. This shot was significantly larger than the last, which had been half the size of the hole it created, and also significantly more powerful. It took out about three fourths of the side of the building along with a bit of the roof and other sides adjacent to the one I shot. I looked at the damage, completely shocked that anything built into my systems could do that kind of damage. Granted, compared to Cybertronian stuff human buildings were flimsy at best, but still. I would be very careful with charged shots of my cannon.

I blinked and shook my head to get myself out of my shock as I deactivated the weapon, my hand taking its place once more. I stood back to my pedes, only vaguely embarrassed that I had fallen on my butt from the recoil. I was still reeling too much from the damage my shot had done to really care if the others found my falling to be amusing or not. I was never really a fighter and never imagined that I would have a weapon that could do that kind of damage built into me. Sure it wasn't as much as Pathbreaker's, but it was still more than I had expected.

I activated my back-plate weapons next, pulling out the one my processor told me was the ranged weapon. I recognized it immediately as one of my favorite weapons from War for Cybertron. The Energon Battle Pistol, which was much like a sniper rifle. It had a very long range and a small clip size. It seemed to have two settings on it, a normal setting and a second one. I left it on the normal setting and lifted it, looking through the spy glass to aim better. I aimed at the edge of a door handle on a car, aiming for the seam between it and the main part of the door. I fired the shot and hit right on target, not only making the door handle fly off, but leaving a hole through the door, the other side's door and a small dent in the wall behind it. When I tested the second setting, we discovered that it was a three round burst, instead of firing one bullet, it shot three consecutively without the need to pull the trigger again. I figured it would come in handy for those tougher Cons that wouldn't go down with one shot or I couldn't get a good shot in on.

"Alright, try one of your grenades now," Ratchet said as I returned the Battle Pistol to my back-plates.

I opened the grenade compartment and selected a grenade. I pulled it out, closed the compartment again and looked at the grenade, trying to decide how it worked. I found the answer in a button that was strategically placed to prevent the accidental activation of it. I pressed it then tossed it at the already partially destroyed building I had tested my Plasma Cannon on. It landed only half way there-I'd have to work on my tosses-but it exploded on a large van, completely demolishing it along with the front end of a jeep that was near it.

"Stormbreaker, you're up," Ratchet said.

Stormbreaker and I traded places, me returning to the sidelines while my sister took position in the shooting range. She activated her servo weapon first, following the same pattern Pathbreaker and I had. It was also a recognizable weapon from the same game. A Neutron Assault Rifle, which fired at a fast rate, similar to a standard machine gun, has a pretty large clip, covers a good distance and packs a punch. When my sister fired, she left several bullet holes in the side of a car, completely blowing off the front tire, headlight and side mirror. The windows were also shattered to pieces.

The weapon she pulled from her back-plates was what appeared to be a bow and arrow set. They glew slightly, showing clear differences between it and the human bow and arrow. Stormbreaker grinned, clearly happy with the weapon, and placed an arrow with a cylindrical end instead of an arrow on the slightly glowing string. The end of the arrow had a few glowing yellow stripes on it. She aimed at the car she had shot with her Assault Rifle and pulled the string back. When she was satisfied with her aim, she let go of the string, sending the arrow flying through the air. When it hit the vehicle an staticy discharge left the arrow and spread throughout the vehicle. It was clear that it was an EMP pulse, meaning that a hit from that type of arrow would render an enemy immobile.

She selected a different type of arrow, this one with an arrow head that had a glowing blue point on it. She aimed at the same car and this time when it hit, it stuck into the vehicle in the engine. A moment passed and we thought nothing was gonna happen, but then sparks flew across the vehicle and the engine blew, leaving smoke to fly up and away. A quick scan and Ratchet reported that the arrow had sent an electrical pulse through the car that fried its circuits, which would be detrimental, though not necessarily lethal, to a Cybertronian.

She also had a third kind of arrow, which she loaded her bow with next. This one had a sphere on the end with glowing red stripes going around it perpendicular to the stick. She took aim at the same car, since it was still standing and all, and fired the arrow. This one had a very different result. Instead of sticking to, or penetrating, the car, the moment it made contact, it exploded, taking the car with it and leaving nothing behind but the undercarriage, which was on fire. Stormbreaker seemed very satisfied with the results of her arrows. She also had throwing knives, which she threw some just for the heck of it, flattening the back tire on the remainder of the car that was blown up by her arrow and two stuck in the middle of the metal part.

"Alright, that was just showing off," I said, grinning at my sister as she rejoined us at the sidelines.

Stormbreaker grinned at me, her optics twinkling.

"Alright you three," Optimus said. "Now we are going to test your abilities in a spar, to see where you are in fighting ability. Pathbreaker, you will spar with Bulkhead. Stormbreaker, you and Arcee will spar. And Shadebreaker, you will spar with Bumblebee. You will spar one at a time and those of us on the sidelines will give advice as you spar."

We all nodded and moved to the sparring area. Pathbreaker was up first against Bulkhead. I was quick to volunteer to be last-when asked why I explained I was not big on fighting and would prolong my turn as much as I could-so that left Stormbreaker and Arcee to be second. It was clear that Bulkhead went easy on Pathbreaker, but his experience and strength still put him on top. It lasted quite a while though, at point it was even a stalemate shortly after Arcee gave my brother a tip of some sort. Bulkhead stepped up a notch at that point and the fight continued in mostly Bulkhead's favor. But it was more about learning than winning, so Pathbreaker didn't have a problem with losing. It was about an hour before they decided to call it quits, after Bulkhead pretended to throw my brother, not actually throwing him though. Neither of them really looked worn out as they returned to the sidelines.

Pathbreaker took Stormbreaker's spot next to me where I sat next to Ratchet as our sister took up a battle position in the sparring area with Arcee. Their spar lasted about the same length, also because Arcee was going easy on Stormbreaker. She gave my sister tips as they sparred and she seemed to picked up on them as easily as Pathbreaker had. The more I watched my siblings spar, the more I dreaded my turn. I knew I wouldn't do half as well. I already knew one thing I was going to have issues with, because I had had issues with it when I had been taking karate before.

_Just relax, _I told myself when it came my turn and Bumblebee and I went out into the ring. _You know that Bee won't hurt you, not seriously anyway. Besides, you've had training before, you can do it._

My internal prep talk didn't work wonders, but it did calm me down enough that I wasn't shaking. The moment we began, Bumblebee took a swing at me and without really thinking about it, I blocked his punch, knocking his fist away with my forearm. I spent a good five minutes just maneuvering around Bumblebee and blocking his blows, occasionally flinching before one of the onlookers decided to give me a pep talk.

"You won't get anywhere just blocking, Shade'," Arcee said, having come up behind me. Bumblebee waited for her to stop giving me tips. "Throw some of your own attacks. Like this," she demonstrated a couple moves to me as I watched. "And try not to flinch so much. If Bee weren't going easy on you, he would have punched or kicked you at least fifteen times by now."

I nodded, rubbing my helm a bit sheepishly. "I'm sorry," I said.

"Don't apologize, just listen," Arcee said, rolling her optics at my unnecessary apology.

She returned to the sidelines and Bumblebee and I continued our match. I got a little braver and started throwing my own attacks, even landing one and gaining an approving look from my opponent. We continued for some time and I was getting tired after a while. Bumblebee maneuvered around me and I around him as we fought. After about fifty-five minutes of sparring, I threw a punch that Bumblebee caught in his hand. He pulled my arm and spun, tossing me over his hip and to the ground. I rolled slightly as I hit the ground, remembering that it would help avoid pain from my karate lessons, though I couldn't go too far as my opponent kept hold of my arm. I lifted myself slightly with my free servo and swept my pedes underneath his legs. He hadn't expected the move, clear by the fact that I successfully caused him to fall over and release my arm.

I stood up and blinked down at him. "You alright, Bee?" I asked.

It seemed that even in a sparring match with a new friend, it was not a good idea to pause, lower your guard and check on your opponent who you just landed on their back. Instead of responding, Bumblebee lifted a pedes and delivered a kick to my chassis that landed me on my back. Then he got up and put a pede on top of me, holding me on the ground. He twittered amusedly as I heard everybot else walk over. Arcee looked down at me from above my head as Bumblebee lifted his pede off me.

"I do hope in an actual battle you wouldn't check to see how the Con you just downed was doing," she stated, a small grin on her faceplates.

"Of course not," I said. "But Bee is hardly a Con."

"You all did well, but you will need plenty of training before you will be allowed on any missions," Optimus told my siblings and I.

Stormbreaker looked down at me. "Are you going to get up sis?" she asked.

"I'm pretty comfortable actually," I noted, placing my servos underneath my helm.

She sighed and shook her head. "You're weird," she said.

"And proud of it," I said before getting up. "What's next?"

Optimus didn't smile, but I could see a small amount of amusement at my sudden enthusiasm, a big change from my reluctance to spar. "It is getting late," he said. "Now, we rest, but I expect you three to be down here for more training at 0600 in the morning."

"Yes sir," my siblings and I said, me giving a salute.

We headed back up to the main level, which was on ground level. As soon as we were out of the elevator and in the main area, that nagging feeling that I had been able to ignore during training disappeared, confirming that it was connected to the fact that seekers don't like being underground. Since our rooms were still being prepared, the three of us were to spend the night in med bay, so we headed there. Ratchet followed us, scanned us all and handed us our second cube of Energon before going to the computer.

"What do you think we'll do tomorrow?" Stormbreaker asked as we sat around and drank our Energon.

"I hope we get to go through that obstacle course," I said, grinning. "It looks fun." I took a sip of my Energon.

"Training, training and more training," Pathbreaker said. "That's my prediction."

My sister and I both agreed.

**~The Next Morning~**

_~Friday, April 27, 2012~_

I woke up that morning before my siblings for a change. I checked the time to find that it was almost time to go back down to The Safe for more training. As I sat up and lightly pet Freedom, who had curled by my side for the night, Pathbreaker stirred just as Ratchet entered the med bay. He was carrying four cubes of Energon, handing one to me, one to Pathbreaker and handed another to Stormbreaker after we woke her up, much to her disappointment.

After we drank our Energon, we headed down to The Safe, though I hesitated long enough to thank Ratchet for the Energon. He seemed a bit surprised that I thanked him, but he nodded in acknowledgement. I smiled and then followed happily after my siblings. We went down to The Safe and found Optimus and Arcee down there waiting. We all greeted each other, me a little more cheerful than the others.

"Hey guys!" I said cheerfully.

"You're more cheerful today," Arcee observed.

"I don't feel as if I'm losing my mind anymore," I shrugged.

"You had a mind to lose?" Stormbreaker asked, grinning.

"Haha," I said dryly as Pathbreaker shook his helm.

Arcee rolled her optics at us before informing us that we would be going through the obstacle course first. The obstacle course consisted of many different obstacles. The first of them was long crawl underneath wires that had electricity running through them. The second stage we would have to maneuver through a bunch of rotating clubs that would hit us if we weren't careful enough. The third stage was a wall we had to climb up quite a ways and then jump down the other side.

The stage following that was clearly a test of agility. There were narrow beams to run across that weren't simply in a straight line and high walls to get over with a swing pipe to quickly duck under only to immediately jump to a set of bars that reminded me of monkey bars before falling into a hole filled with water. The last stage after that was a maze to find our way through. Arcee said it would change each time one of us went through it so there was no way to memorize the path. We'd be given a set amount of time to complete the course in or we'd have to start over.

By the time Arcee finished explaining the course to us, Ratchet had joined to watch us go through it and aid in our training after we went through the course. I was anxious to get on that course and it must've shown, because of what Arcee said next.

"You want to go first?" she asked, her voice full of amusement as she looked at my wide-opticed self pretty much bouncing on my pedes.

"If that is ok with my siblings," I said.

They both chuckled. "It's fine sis," Stormbreaker said.

"We know you like obstacle courses," Pathbreaker said, grinning at my enthusiasm.

I grinned back and before long I was at the beginning of the course, waiting for the word to start. When Optimus told me I could begin, I dived right into the first portion, almost literally. Crawling under the wires wasn't very easy. I was never very good at remaining close to the ground and my wings provided another obstacle. I did discover that I could flatten my wings against my back, though it was rather uncomfortable-still preferable to having get shocked every five seconds. My shoulders were the point where I would hit the wires most often and I was thankful it was only enough to sting and not to short circuit anything.

Going through the second part proved difficult as well. I was able to narrowly avoid getting whacked by many of the clubs by twisting away from them, ducking and jumping. It was still a painful experience though, because for every club I dodged I also got hit by one. Toward the end one hit my pedes and I did a face plant.

"Ow," I grumbled, lifting my helm and holding it slightly. I ducked it again to avoid the club, also flattening my wings again.

I quickly stood once it was passed and jumped over it on the next circle. I ducked passed the next club and twisted away from another before I was clear of the clubs. I looked up the wall that I would climb, realizing that it was quite high. In my human days I would've never made it to the top, because I had a fear of falling from heights and hadn't felt like I could successfully hold on after I reached a certain height when climbing one of those walls they have at festivals back in Chillicothe. It wasn't that I didn't like heights, I loved being high up, but I was never confident in my ability to cling to the side of a rock.

I sighed and took a deep breath. I figured it was time to get over that and just give it a shot. I began the climb at a fairly slow rate that remained pretty constant the entire way up. I lost my footing a few times and had to work to regain purchase, but I was able to keep a hold with my servos. I had a lot of fun climbing up the wall, actually. Once I was at the top, I grinned in triumph and looked down the other side. It was always getting back down that was the difficult part. There were a couple ledges along the way down that I could use so I didn't jump straight to the floor. Shrugging, I decided that there was no time like the present and jumped down to the first ledge. It took only about a minute to reach the bottom, about a fourth of the time it had taken me to climb up the wall. It only took me that long, because I used every ledge there was, cautious about jumping straight down because I wasn't sure how much my new body could take.

I wasted no time at all in moving on to the fourth section. I didn't have a whole lot of problem with the beams, though I did almost fall off a few times. I did go rather slower whenever I had to make a sharp turn than I did when going straight or just going along a curve to make sure I didn't fall off due to momentum. Every now and then the beams would be replaced by regular floor and I would have to leap over a wall. Most of the time, I failed at that point. I tripped over a couple before I decided to just use a servo to give myself a boost over the rest. Between a few of the walls I had to walk across some more beams.

After the last beam and wall, I slid underneath the swinging pipe and then leaped to the monkey-bar-like obstacle. Having grown up with monkey bars had given me a good head start for that one. I made it past this obstacle faster than I did the others and moved on to the maze. The maze was quite difficult and I was thankful that I didn't have a time limit for this first round. I ran into a lot of dead ends and had to back track several times. Eventually I found the exit on the other side and was able to rejoin the others on the sidelines. I had apparently taken a couple hours to get through it all because of how long I took in the maze, but Arcee said we would work on my directional skills.

Stormbreaker and Pathbreaker both didn't take quite as long as I had, but both got just as many whacks and sore spots. We all definitely required training before we went into the field. Speaking of training, once we were all through the obstacle course, the bots had us sparring again, teaching us more about combat. We sparred against the Bots again, switching partners and at times we would spar against each other. They also had us in the shooting range for quite some time.

It wasn't until Arcee and Bumblebee left to get the kids that had seen them in action that they let us take a break. As the two left for pick-up, the rest of us congregated in the ops center, Ratchet going over to the main computer and my siblings and I shared stories with Bulkhead. Where he had actual war stories to tell us about, we had our own interesting tales to tell. It was quite fun and we all had quite a laugh.


	4. Darkness Looming

**A/N: **Oh looky here, an update! I am beyond happy I got this done before Monday, as that is when I am leaving to Florida for my vacation. I am pretty certain I won't have another update for this story between now and then, but I may get one up by the time I get back, but that is not a guarantee. I might be able to get an update for A World Apart again before I leave, but that is also not a guarantee. We shall just have to wait and see. :)

Ok, as I said, I am leaving for Florida on this coming Monday(June 4th), so it will likely be a while before my next update. I hope I will be able to get some writing in while away, but I don't know how my schedule will be. I've never been on vacation before. I don't know what to expect! But I certainly hope I can have fun either way! In case I don't see you guys again for a while, I hope you guys have a good month of June!

Oh! And another note, I changed it so that Path', Shade' and Storm' can understand 'Bee since I couldn't decide how to have them learn how to understand him.

**Scripture of the Update:** And the war continues….

"_Do not envy the oppressor, and choose none of his ways; for the perverse person is an abomination to the Lord, but His secret counsel is with the upright. The curse of the Lord is on the house of the wicked, but He blesses the house of the just. Surely He scorns the scornful, but gives grace to the humble. The wise shall inherit glory, but shame shall be the legacy of fools." ~Proverbs 3:31-35 New King James Version_

**Author's Replies:**

**Jayna Prime: **Lol. Glad you liked it sis.

**Mikaela the Cat: **Why would it further their confusion? Mass panic? I don't see the kids panicking because there are eight instead of five 'Bots….Excitement? Definitely on Miko's part. :D

**Sci-Fifan95: **Indeed. O.O Glad you liked it. :)

**Minlem: **It's more realistic, isn't it? I figured it wouldn't make much sense for them to be able to kick 'Con aft without a bit of training. Glad you liked that part about the story and glad you like the story as a whole so far. :)

**Devil-O-Angel: **Thanks! :D Glad you liked it.

**Sailor Shinzo: **They'll have more fun too. :) Update is here!

**Luna Prime- Awesomeness: **Thanks! :) Fighting stinks. I like obstacle courses much better, but I'm far from the best at them. :P

**TransFanFreak101: **Glad you liked it! :D Wait no more!

**Jazz-Transformers: **Thanks! I go as fast as I can! My muse sometimes misbehaves, that's all. Well, that and the real world. I understand though. Lol. I will do my best! *salutes*

**Vivian Hale: **Viv-I dun like being forced to stay in a room. :| Lol. It's called multi-tasking I believe. ;P "be a medic, save some pain." Awesome phrase there. :D Da enemy shall not win! *determined* Jazz-I bet the 'Cons didn't stand a chance. :D Both-Glad you guys liked it :)

**KayleeChiara: **Glad you liked it. :D

**MidnightChiller13: **chpt1-You can find out by reading! :D chpt2-Indeed. I am glad you liked that one, it's one of my favs. :) chpt3-Thanks! I'm glad you liked it. :D

As a random note, I noticed this smilie - :3 looks like it could be either a hamster or a cat. So I'm gonna dub it Kitty Ratchet and Kitty Ratchet shall start the chapter…

:3 Meow.

**Chapter 4: Darkness Looming**

_~Friday, April 27, 2012~_

"We kept him in there so long that we got Ironhide to sign a contract saying that he would tell Chromia how he felt," Bulkhead finished off the story he was telling us about when he and a bunch of his Wrecker friends held an intervention for Ironhide.

Pathbreaker laughed as we entered the ops center.

"That reminds me of something Path' wrote in one of his stories," I said.

"That's because it's the exact same story," Pathbreaker said. He chuckled.

"Story?" Bulkhead asked.

"Yeah," Stormbreaker said. "These two used to write stories about this place." She grinned. "Actually, both their OCs got paired with a bot here."

"Storm', no," I said as my optics widened. Why did I have to open my mouth?

Bulkhead laughed. "So you two are a couple of writers, then?" he asked and we slowly nodded. "That's cool."

We were saved from anymore conversation about our stories by the sound of engines. We looked up in time to see Bumblebee and Arcee drive into the base. A teenage boy and a teenage girl climbed off Arcee as a younger boy got out of Bumblebee.

The older boy looked to be about sixteen and he had black hair. He was wearing a grey shirt with white long sleeves, jeans and tennis shoes. His eyes were blue in color, though they were a dark shade of the color. The younger male looked to be around twelve, had messy brown hair and wore a pair of glasses. His outfit consisted of a long sleeve shirt that was a very light-almost white-orange color, an orange vest, baggy jeans and tennis shoes. He had brown eyes as well, though they weren't quite as dark. The girl looked to be closer to the older boy's age, maybe a little younger, and had black hair that had a good amount of pink in it. She wore a light purple t-shirt with a dark blue tank top over it with a picture of a green robot on it, a belt with a plush stuck to the side, shorts, purple and blue stockings and a pair of knee-high boots. Her eyes were also brown, though they were lighter in shade than the other two's.

It was easy enough for me to recognize them all, as they were the same three humans that were in Transformers: Prime. The oldest boy was Jack Darby while the younger was Rafael Esquivel and the girl was Miko Nakadai.

"I thought there were two," Ratchet said as he walked over and joined the four us as Arcee and Bumblebee transformed.

"Haven't you heard? Humans multiply," Arcee said, walking over to the side.

"Hi, I'm Raf," the youngest said, trying to introduce himself to the girl. She, however was more interested in us bots.

"I'm Miko," she said and ran up to us. She looked up at Bulkhead. "Who are you?"

"Bulkhead," Bulkhead responded, looking a little surprised by Miko's excitement.

"Are you a car? I bet you're a truck! A monster truck! Do you like heavy metal? How much do you weigh? Ever use a wrecking ball for a punching bag?" Miko asked him questions at a speed fairly difficult to keep up with. She turned to my siblings and I. "You guys have wings! Can you fly? Ever fly over the Bermuda Triangle? How come your armor changes shade? Wow, you're huge! I bet you could beat Godzilla!" It was kinda amazing how fast she went from Bulkhead to the three of us to me to Pathbreaker all within half a minute.

I unconsciously moved a bit behind Pathbreaker, as he was closest to me, in an effort to hide from her questions. My wings twittered with the nervousness having her attention on me had caused. She was really outgoing with her questions considering we just barely-not-quite met.

"So, if you guys are robots, who made you?" Raf asked when Miko was finally done with her questions.

"Ugh, puh-leez," Ratchet scoffed.

At that moment, Optimus walked in from behind the human children and their attention went to him when he began speaking.

"We are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron," Optimus said. "Also known as Autobots."

"Why are you here?" Jack asked, stepping toward him a bit.

"To protect your planet from the Decepticons," Optimus said.

"The jokers who tried to bump us off yesterday," Arcee told Jack.

"Ok," Jack said, understanding so far. "Why are they here?"

"A fair question, Jack, in part, because our planet is uninhabitable, ravaged by centuries of civil war," Optimus explained.

"Why were you fighting a war?" Raf asked, his voice saddened.

"Foremost, over our world's supply of Energon," Optimus explained. "The life blood of all Autobots and Decepticons alike. The combat was fierce and endured for centuries. In the beginning, I fought alongside one whom I considered a brother...but in war, ideals can be corrupted and it was thus that Megatron lost his way." His tone was sad when he mentioned Megatron's fall.

"Is there going to be a quiz?" Miko said in a bored voice.

I bit my tongue so that I wouldn't interrupt by telling Miko not to be rude to the Prime. I didn't want to be rude myself by interrupting further.

"So what does Megatron or any of this have to do with us?" Jack asked.

"Megatron has not been seen nor heard from in some time, but if his return is imminent as I fear, it could be catastrophic." he finished gravely. "And since you now know of our existence, I fear the Decepticons may know of yours."

"Got it," Jack said. "If we see any strange vehicles, we'll call 911."

I rolled my optics as Pathbreaker spoke.

"Really? What do you think the police will do? Give the Cons a ticket?" he asked after face-palming.

Stormbreaker looked quite amused with this situation.

Jack gave him a look before turning back to Optimus. "Can we go now?" he asked.

"Are you crazy?" Miko demanded of Jack. "I'm living a dream here and I won't let you or anyone else mess it up!"

"It is best that you three remain under our watch, at least until we know our enemy's intentions," Optimus said.

"Optimus," Ratchet said, turning to the Prime. "With all due respect, the human children are in as much danger here as anywhere."

"Children?" Jack asked in an offended tone.

"They have no protective shell," Ratchet continued, ignoring Jack's side note. "If they get underfoot, they will go…squish." He stomped a pede to emphasize.

"Then for the time being, Ratchet, we must watch where we step," Optimus said.

"He still sounds like a Jedi when he says that," Pathbreaker whispered to Stormbreaker and I and we grinned.

We were interrupted by an alarm going off. The computers flashed as the alarmed sounded, casting the ops center in green light.

"What's that?" Jack asked.

Bumblebee whirred something and Raf translated for his fellow humans.

"Proximity sensor, someone's up top," Raf said, pointing up.

"It's Agent Fowler," Ratchet said.

"But," Jack said. "I thought we were the only humans who knew about you."

"Special Agent Fowler is our designated liaison to the outside world," Optimus explained, turning to the children. "As he tends to visit only when there are issues, it may be best if you do not meet him at this time."

Jack and Miko shared a look before the three children went to hide. Optimus then turned to my siblings and I with a thoughtful expression.

"It may be best if you three do not meet him at this time either," he finally said after a moment.

"Right, we'll go over here then," Pathbreaker said and we went over to hide in the same place the human children were hiding. We had to duck down to hide ourselves well enough and we remained quiet when the elevator opened to allow Agent Fowler to come in.

"Seven wrecks, thirty-four fender benders, a three hour traffic jam, and a particular note, numerous reports of a speeding motorcycle of unknown make. And a black and yellow custom muscle car," Fowler said the moment he stepped out of the elevator.

Bumblebee and Arcee shared a look.

"So, anything you care to get off your tin chest, Prime?" Fowler asked, his tone showing his anger.

"We have the situation under control, Agent Fowler," Optimus said.

"They're back, aren't they?" Fowler asked.

"If you are referring to the Decepticons, I have doubts that they ever left," Optimus said. "Your planet is much too valuable."

"Then it's time to wake up the Pentagon," Fowler said.

Optimus held up a hand. "Hear me Agent Fowler, we are your best, possibly your only defense against the Decepticons," he said, trying to keep the liaison calm.

"Says you." Fowler was obviously not very happy with Optimus's words.

"Hey fleshy!" Bulkhead said and Fowler turned toward him. "Did any humans get splattered on the freeway? No? Well, that's because Team Prime knows when to use force," he pulled something that looked important from Ratchet's workstation. "And how much to use." He finished by crushing the piece of machinery in his hands.

"Bulkhead! I needed that!" Ratchet yelled at the mech and whacked him with a wrench. I couldn't help but giggle as Bulkhead rubbed his head. Ratchet was famous for his wrenches.

"Enough!" Optimus half yelled, stopping Ratchet from throwing another wrench and Bulkhead from taking cover behind the same wall as us. Optimus continued, "Military involvement will only cause the deaths of countless humans. Perhaps you can accept the widespread human casualties, Agent Fowler, I, however, cannot."

Fowler was walking back to the elevator when he spoke over his shoulder, "Then do us both a favor and handle this, Prime, under the radar...or I will." The elevator closed at that point.

"He wasn't very nice," Pathbreaker noted, as I poked my head out from our hiding place as the children walked out, followed by my siblings.

"He is merely concerned about his planet," Optimus said. "As he should be."

"He could still be nicer about it," I said, joining them in exiting our hiding spot.

"Hey, how come you guys had to hide?" Miko asked, pointing up at us.

"We're new," Stormbreaker said.

"You know, we haven't actually gotten introductions yet," Jack said.

Optimus nodded. "I am Optimus Prime," he said. "Leader of the Autobots. You have already met Arcee and Bumblebee." Said bots nodded and waved respectively. "Arcee is my current second-in-command and Bumblebee is our scout."

"Cool!" Miko said.

"Bulkhead, our resident Wrecker," Optimus introduced the big guy, who stood tall when his team was mentioned. "Ratchet, our Chief Medical Officer." Ratchet gave an unenthusiastic-half-way-done wave and grunted. "And our three newest members, Pathbreaker, Stormbreaker and Shadebreaker. They are still in training." We each nodded or waved when our names were given.

"You're new? Where are you from? How long have you been here?" Miko asked us.

"Um…" I said before Pathbreaker answered for us.

"Believe it or not, we're from an alternate reality," my brother said.

"Really?" Raf asked.

Before anyone could respond we heard Ratchet growl at the computer and everyone turned to him.

"Blasted Earth tech," Ratchet grumbled before turning to the rest of us. "Cliffjumper's signal just came back online."

"How is that possible?" Optimus asked.

"It isn't," Ratchet said. "Another bug, the system's chock full of 'em."

"If there's any chance Cliff's still alive…" Arcee said, trailing off.

"He's not," I said sadly. I flinched back when Arcee glared daggers at me.

"Sorry," Pathbreaker said, putting a hand on my shoulder before stepping forward slightly. "Cliffjumper was gone the moment Starscream killed him. His signal's only online because Megatron used a shard of Dark Energon to revive his body. It's not Cliffjumper."

Arcee's optics flashed with fury when Pathbreaker said who had killed Cliffjumper and the look didn't let up either, making me a bit nervous as my wings twitched. "You expect us not to go?" she demanded.

"Not at all," Pathbreaker said. "We just wanted to tell you so you'd be prepared."

I nodded.

"Ratchet, prepare med bay just in case," Optimus said. He stepped between Arcee and the three of us, seeing her still glaring daggers at us. "We will go and bring Cliffjumper home."

Ratchet activated the Ground Bridge and the four Autobots left base. My wings drooped a bit, sad because of what I knew they would find on the other side. Miko, Jack and Raf started asking questions and as my siblings answered them, I moved away. I leaned against the wall near where Ratchet was stationed and merely watched and listened as Pathbreaker and Stormbreaker explained where we came from and our story.

"So if you guys are from a reality where we're fiction," Raf said. "Do you know the future?"

"Not much of it," Stormbreaker answered.

"We know through part of tomorrow, but not a whole lot," Pathbreaker said.

I sighed a bit, bothered by the knowledge of what the others would find and hoping Arcee would be alright eventually. I was also a bit sad we wouldn't know anything to be of use in the future.

"How come you're not over there with your siblings?" Ratchet's sudden question brought me out of my thoughts.

"I'm not really one for getting asked a lot of question by people I just met," I said. "Plus, my social skills suck."

Ratchet nodded in understanding before turning to the computer. "You seem sad," he noted.

"Simply the knowledge that somebot died," I said, sighing. I looked up to the ceiling. "I can't help but think that if we had ended up here sooner we could've something to prevent it. I don't know what, but something."

"But the fact was you weren't in this reality when it happened," Ratchet said, sparring me a serious look before turning back to the computer. "You can't dwell on 'what if's. They will only distract you from doing what you need to do."

I nodded in understanding. A few kliks of silence reigned between us as I listened to the others talk. I wasn't really thinking of anything at that point, so I'm not really sure what sparked my next question, but something must've.

"Ratchet?" I asked and he briefly looked over at me. "Do you think you could teach me how to be a medic?"

Ratchet looked surprised by my question. "Perhaps," he said. "If you are serious about wanting to become one, I can teach you."

"I am serious," I said. "After all, someone's gotta keep my siblings in one piece." I shrugged. "I want to be able to help and I just think I'd be a better medic than a warrior. I'm not a fan of fighting. I've always preferred science over other things."

Ratchet nodded. "Very well," he said. "We'll start your training once your combat training is done then."

"Thank you," I said.

Ratchet just hummed and focused on his work at that point.

"What's this?" I heard Miko ask.

"Broken, don't touch," Ratchet said without turning from the terminal.

I smirked as I watched Miko silently reach to touch something else.

"Don't touch that either," Ratchet ordered, still without turning around.

"Is there anything in here we can touch?" Jack asked.

Ratchet turned briefly to look at the two humans before the computer beeped and an error message appeared on-screen and he turned back to it.

"How come you guys are using human computers?" Raf asked from where he was now standing on the upper level.

"It certainly isn't by choice," Ratchet said. "It was handed down to us by its former tenants when we inherited this former missile silo. I make modifications as I see fit." He typed something on the computer and more error messages appeared.

"I think I can fix that," Raf said and walked over to a terminal, removing his backpack. He took out a laptop and hooked it up to the terminal.

"Really?" Ratchet asked in a disbelieving tone as Raf typed away. "You know this is complex technology, don't you? I mean, it isn't a child's toy."

Raf ignored him and continued typing. "Try it now," he said when he was done.

Ratchet did try and the error messages all got green check marks and disappeared. He looked back at Raf in surprise.

"Power to the nerds," I grinned, holding my hand up for a high five. Raf gave me a high five as Ratchet rolled his optics.

"Were you a nerd in school, too?" Raf asked. "I mean, your brother did say you guys used to be human."

"Certainly was," I said. "I was the weird kid who liked learning, got all good grades and eventually graduated toward the top of my class. I've always liked nerdy stuff too. Like Star Wars and Star Trek and CSI and Transformers…"

"Isn't that the show about us?" Raf asked.

"Yup," I said. "It was my favorite, though I didn't see much of this reality's continuity. I know more about the original series, the movies and another one called Animated. I could sit here and sum up all three movies and the entirety of Animated. And there were also a couple books about the war on Cybertron. I'm familiar with those as well."

"Cool," Raf said as Miko and Jack joined him on the second level and my siblings walked up.

The computer beeped and Optimus's voice came through the com system. **"Ratchet! Bridge us back! Use the arrival coordinates…now!"**

Ratchet pulled the lever and almost as soon as the Ground Bridge opened up, Arcee, Bumblebee and Bulkhead sped into base. Optimus followed right on their tails, transforming and flipping to land gracefully on his feet in a move that was probably really hard to pull off. Ratchet deactivated the Ground Bridge just before what looked like an explosion came in after them, blocking it from doing any damage.

"Cutting it a bit close," Ratchet said. His voice became concerned when he continued. "What about Cliffjumper?"

The way the bots all seemed to become a bit depressed at the question gave us the answer. My wings drooped at that and I barely heard Miko start asking questions. Jack pulled her away though and then the bots all turned to Arcee.

"Arcee, what did you see?" Optimus asked.

"Not Cliff," Arcee said, wrapping her arms around herself. "He was butchered, looked like one of the Con experiments from the war." She glared at Pathbreaker and I. "Looks like you were telling the truth. Congradulations, you proved you weren't lying."

"It was not our intention to prove anything," I said sadly.

"We are sorry for your loss, Arcee," Pathbreaker said.

"Yeah," I said.

"All three of us are," Stormbreaker said.

"Sorry? And what would you know about loss?" Arcee asked angrily.

Before we could answer, her optics dimmed and she collapsed onto a knee, catching herself on a generator so she didn't fall down completely. Bumblebee took a step forward and whirled in concern.

"I'm fine," Arcee said, holding up a hand. "Just dizzy."

I noticed Jack, Miko and Raf were holding a small and quiet conversation as they realized we were all more than just machines. We could think, feel, and die. Just like any other living being.

Ratchet started scanning Arcee as she sat down on top of the generator she had caught herself on. The blue light from the scan turned red when it went over her hand and Ratchet went over it again, getting the same result.

"What is this?" he asked.

"Don't know," Arcee said as Ratchet took a sample of the substance on her hand. "Cliff was covered in it, leaking it."

"Go take a decontamination bath, now," Ratchet ordered.

Ratchet walked over to some of his medical equipment as Bumblebee helped Arcee to a circular chamber that was big enough for any of us to go into.

"Optimus, I hate to bug," Jack said, getting the boss bot's attention. "But, no bars."

"A security precaution," Optimus said. "The silo walls block all unauthorized communications."

"Well, if I don't call my mom like now, I'm pretty sure the cops will be out looking for you," Jack said.

Optimus leaned so that he was at optic-to-eye level with Jack. "Have you broken a law?" he asked.

"Uh, curfew, it's after ten o'clock," Jack said. "If I don't get home, I'm gonna be grounded."

"I better get home too, or I'll be grounded for a year," Raf said.

"Human customs, I hadn't considered," Optimus said, standing up straight once more. "But the issue of your safety remains." He turned to Bulkhead. "Bulkhead, you will accompany Miko home."

"Sweet!" Miko cheered. "My host parents will freak!" She leaned toward Jack as she spoke, causing the male to back up some.

"And maintain covert surveillance in vehicle mode," Optimus finished.

"Curbside duty, got it," Bulkhead said.

"Aw," Miko sighed in disappointment.

"Bumblebee, you will accompany Rafael," Optimus said. He then turned to Ratchet. "Ratchet."

"I'm busy," Ratchet said, waving his hand to say not to bother him.

Arcee came out of the circular thingie at that moment.

"Arcee, you will accompany Jack home," Optimus said.

"Ugh," Arcee said and held her helm. "Still dizzy."

"You're fine, says your physician," Ratchet said without turning from his work.

Arcee sighed.

As the ones leaving got ready to leave, my siblings and I approached Arcee.

"What?" she asked in an irritated tone.

"We just wanted to make sure you'll be ok," Pathbreaker said.

"Yeah…" Stormbreaker said. "We really do understand."

"And if you ever wanna talk about it, we're good at listening," I added.

"What makes you three think you understand?" Arcee asked.

"We've lost people too," I said. "I've lost two people I was close to, actually. Both were people I looked up to…."

"I lost a best friend to death," Stormbreaker said. "So I really know how you feel."

"And I lost an uncle I was close to," Pathbreaker said. "So if you ever need to talk, we're here to listen."

Arcee looked surprised to learn this about us. "Oh," she said. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"We're sorry too," I said, smiling a little.

Silence reigned for a few moments between the four of us before Jack walked over.

"You ready, Arcee?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, let's go," Arcee said. She looked at us for a moment. "Thanks for the offer."

"Anytime," Pathbreaker and I said at the same time. "We did it again." we said.

"And again," Pathbreaker said.

"You two do that a lot," Stormbreaker noted.

"You know what they say," I said. "Great minds think alike."

"Are you saying I'm not great?" Stormbreaker asked, though the twinkle in her optics showed she was joking.

"Of course not," I said. "We're all great in our own way."

Arcee rolled her optics at my statement while smirking a little bit-at least she was amused-before transforming and allowing Jack to climb on before driving out of the base. As they left, Pathbreaker turned to Optimus.

"So, are our rooms ready?" he asked.

"Or is it back to the med bay?" Stormbreaker added.

"Your rooms are still being prepared," Optimus informed us.

Stormbreaker sighed, but I just shrugged.

"Ok, well I want to explore a little bit before we retire," I said, wandering toward the hallway leading to the rest of the base.

"Hey wait up," Stormbreaker said and she and Pathbreaker joined me for my exploration.

We started wandering around the base to familiarize ourselves with our new home. The first door we came across was the med bay, which we knew well already from having to stay in there until our rooms were ready. So we moved on. We came across a door that led to a completely empty room not far from the med bay. It wasn't being used for anything, nor was the room across from it.

"I think I might take over one of these rooms and turn it into a workshop," Pathbreaker said. "So I can build some weapons and stuff."

Stormbreaker and I chuckled a little and I shook my head.

"You and your weapons," I said.

Pathbreaker grinned before we moved on. Aside from the two empty rooms, we found an armory, several storage rooms full of random parts, scrap metal and several other items that almost seemed random, and the area where the quarters were located. Well, we assumed it was the quarters, because the doors were all locked.

"Ok, well, do you guys want to turn in or explore the underground level?" I asked. "After all, we've only been to the Safe down there."

"I want to explore some more," Stormbreaker said.

"I'm ok with that," Pathbreaker said.

"Alright, to the elevator!" I said, grinning as we walked back toward the elevator.

Our walk to the elevator took us back to the ops center, where we found Ratchet had either gone to recharge or moved his work to med bay. Optimus appeared to have gone somewhere as well, presumably to recharge.

Once we were on the underground level, we wandered around. The direction opposite the way we had gone to the Safe there were a couple doors. One was on the left and the other was on the right, a little further down the hall. We went into the door on the left first, since it was the first we came to.

"Oh wow," Stormbreaker said. "This room is huge!"

"Looks like a rec room," Pathbreaker said.

"Sweet," I said, looking around the room.

There was an area stationed off, presumably to play any games that could potentially damage something. There was what appeared to be a giant TV-I never knew they made them that big-against one wall with a giant-sized couched in front of it. There was also a counter with what appeared to be an Energon dispenser on it and Energon cubes sat underneath the counter, presumably to refill the dispenser as needed. There was also an area with what looked like giant bean bags and giant chairs spread around, clearly an area for doing things non-TV-related. Of course, all the "giant" stuff wasn't giant at all to us. There was lots of space not used for anything specific.

"It looks pretty much like how many people said the rec room looked like in Diego Garcia," I observed.

"Except this is better cause we can actually see it," Stormbreaker said, grinning.

"And use it," Pathbreaker added.

"Indeed," I said.

We left the rec room in favor of continuing our exploration. The next room we discovered to be a library. It was filled with shelves and shelves of data pads that were presumably brought with the Autobots on the Ark. There were a couple couches, a couple chairs and a small table in the middle of them set up. I grinned widely at this discovery.

"I bet I know where you'll be when not busy with something else," Stormbreaker said in amusement, nudging me a little.

"You know it," I said.

We left the library and headed in the direction of the Safe. Between the elevator and the Safe there were two more doors. Like on the other side, one was on the left and the other on the right. The one on the right came first and we discovered it was what was basically a war room. A place for meetings and battle planning. The other door we discovered to be wash racks with separate sections for mechs and femmes, mechs on the left and femmes on the right. They were basically large showers in a sense.

We decided to go back to med bay after that, since it was quite late and we had training to do in the morning. So we returned to med bay to retire for the night and the moment I walked in the door, Freedom pounced on my pedes, ran away a few feet and then pounced on my pedes again before looking up at me. I just chuckled and picked her up before climbing on a berth and going into recharge, my Cybercat curling up on top of me.

**~The Next Day~**

_~Saturday, April 28, 2012~_

"Ompf, ow," I grumbled as I stumbled my way through the spinning clubs in the obstacle course.

The first thing we had done after onlining that day was training, which we were now doing again. The day had been a pretty eventful one, though the three of us had missed out on most of it. We had taken our morning Energon and then gone down to the Safe to train. We had mostly sparred and got in some target practice. Our aim was improving and I was slowly getting over my flinching in a match, as well as my habit to worry over my opponent when I knocked them off their feet.

After we trained for a while, and realized that no one had come down to drill us through the motions, we had gone up to the ops center to find out what was going on. When we got there, no one had been there, though we soon enough heard Arcee calling for a Ground Bridge. It was then we learned that Optimus and Ratchet had gone to investigate something and Bulkhead had gone to save Agent Fowler from the Decepticons…with the kids.

After we sent Arcee and Bumblebee through the Ground Bridge to where Bulkhead had gone, we hadn't had anything to do but wait. They hadn't allowed us to accompany them, because of the fact that we were still in training. It was about an hour later that we got a call from Optimus and Ratchet for a Ground Bridge and Ratchet had given me my first medic lesson by having my help Optimus repair his arm that had gotten damaged during their fight against zombies. The others returned while we were still repairing his arm and they told us what happened there.

At that point the only thing worth mentioning is that Jack decided to leave and left despite Pathbreaker and Stormbreaker's attempts at convincing him to stay. I was pretty sure he would be back though. And now Arcee and Ratchet were drilling us in the Safe.

"Time's up, Shadebreaker," Ratchet informed me when I was half way up the climbing wall.

I sighed and jumped back down. I had gone through the course with the same time limit three times so far since she started drilling us through it and hadn't made it through a single time. I was getting closer each time though. Pathbreaker and Stormbreaker were sparring against each other with Arcee overseeing their match.

Ratchet met me at the beginning of the course when I had made my way back. "It might help in the first part if you remain as close to the ground as you can," he advised. "And try not to get hit so much by the clubs."

I rubbed my helm sheepishly. "Yeah, thanks," I said.

Ratchet sighed. "Don't look so discouraged, you are doing really well," he said.

"Hey!" Stormbreaker's voice interrupted before I could start the course over again. "Arcee wants you in the sparring ring, Shadebreaker. It's my turn to have a go at the course."

"Ok," I said and went over to the sparring ring.

Arcee had Pathbreaker doing target practice now and she sparred with me for a while until it was time to go to recharge.

The following day, we entered the ops center to find that the kids were already here, excluding Jack. Arcee also wasn't around, presumably to get Jack. The others were all just hanging around the ops center. Just as we walked up, the computer terminal started beeping. Ratchet typed some on it before turning to Optimus.

"Optimus, I've pinpointed the Decepticon Space Bridge," Ratchet said. "High in Earth's orbit."

"Out of our reach," Optimus said.

"Why not just Ground Bridge there?" I asked as Miko said, "Okay so you don't fly...Hey, I was gonna say that!" I sent her an apologetic look.

"The Ground Bridge has limited range," Ratchet explained. "Stretched all the way to space, its vortex may snap and scatter us to the stars."

"Since Megatron is likely already in transit," Optimus said. "I'm afraid we must take that risk. Reaching the Space Bridge first is our only means of stopping him." He turned to my siblings and I. "You three remain here, your training is incomplete and you are not prepared to handle this."

"Yes sir," Stormbreaker said.

"We understand," Pathbreaker said.

"Just as long as you guys comeback safely," I said.

Optimus nodded and turned as we heard a beeping and motorcycle engine. Not a moment later Arcee drove into base with Jack on her seat. She stopped and Jack climbed off, removing his helmet.

"Hey, guess who's back," he said.

"Autobots, prepare for departure," Optimus said.

"Where to?" Arcee asked.

"The final frontier," Miko said, walking between Bumblebee and Bulkhead to greet the two.

"Space? But I thought they didn't have any way to get there," Jack said in concern.

"They don't," Raf said as Bumblebee helped him to the floor. "Not really."

"Um, be seeing ya?" Jack said up to Arcee.

Ratchet looked over at me where I stood by the Ground Bridge control. He didn't need to say anything for me to know he wanted me to activate the Ground Bridge. I reached over and pulled the lever.

"Be careful, Bee," Raf said to his guardian, who whirled in the affirmative.

"Aw, I'm so jealous," Miko said.

"Don't even think about following me," Bulkhead said, holding a hand up before walking over to the others.

"Optimus," Ratchet said, turning to the mech. "If you leave me stranded here on a planet teeming with humans, I will never forgive you."

"Hey!" Stormbreaker and I said indignantly.

"Until we meet again, old friend," Optimus said, amusement in his voice. His battle mask slid into place. "Autobots, roll out!"

The four bots transformed and then drove through the Ground Bridge. When the Ground Bridge closed, the three humans climbed up to the higher level next to the control console that Ratchet was manning and my siblings and I gathered around. Ratchet had establish a communications link between the 'Bots up in space and us Earthbound 'Bots, and humans.

"**Autobots, gravitize," **Optimus ordered.

"**Whoa. Don't look down…or up…or left," **Bulkhead said.

It was silent for a few moments before Arcee spoke.

**"So Megatron is packing enough dark energon to raise the dead of Cybertron?" **she asked, clearly talking to Optimus.

**"And since we don't possess a ready means of disabling the space bridge, nothing gets in or out," **Optimus said. His tone never changed, but would still inspire you.

It was almost three kliks before Arcee said, confused, **"Well...what are they waiting for?"**

**"It appears the Decepticons have sustained serious damage to their interstellar navigations system,"** Optimus replied in a tone that was slightly surprised.

**"Huh, that's my handiwork,"** Bulkhead sounded more surprised than Optimus.

**"Great job Bulkhead. Without the dish Megatron will be unable to aim the space bridge at Cybertron,"** Prime's voice was cautious, but slightly relieved.

"Don't the Decepticons know where their own planet is?" Raf asked confused.

"Naturally," Ratchet scoffed and continued, "But Cybertron is several hundred light-years away. To reach their target their aim must be astronomically precise."

Optimus sighed, **"Megatron went through the trouble of rendezvousing with his space bridge then he must have an alternate targeting system, one still on earth."**

Ratchet gave a slight laugh "Well, we can rule out anything human-made. They don't have a single radio telescope dish powerful enough to pinpoint Cybertron."

As Ratchet was saying this, Raf had been working on the computer. "What about a bunch of linked radio telescope dishes? Like the giant sized array in Texas?" he asked, looking at the medic.

Ratchet, however, didn't think much of the idea. "This is not child's play..."

**"Good thinking Raf. Ratchet, have Agent Fowler alert the array staff to the security threat."** Optimus said, cutting Ratchet off.

Fowler suddenly sat up and pointed at Pathbreaker. "You! Soldier!...you're out of uniform!...put on some pants!" And with that, he fell back unconscious.

"I don't think Fowler is up to it Optimus," I said, doing my best not to laugh as Stormbreaker silently cracked up and Pathbreaker appeared to be holding his own laughter in.

Raf turned back to the computer and attempted to gain access to the arrays systems. After a klik he sighed, "The array has very advanced firewalls. I can't get in!" He shook his head in frustration.

Ratchet narrowed his optics at Raf "You...actually think you could keep the Decepticons out?" I don't know how, but he was sarcastic and curious at the same time.

Raf shrugged. "Maybe...if I could get in," he said, not truly sure of himself.

Jack suddenly stepped forward. "Raf, what if we could get you all the way in? Like inside the building in?" He gestured toward the picture of the array on the screen.

Raf widened his eyes in realization, "If I logged into their internal network inside the building the firewall would no longer be a problem," he said, looking at the computer.

**"The risk is too great. The Decepticons will be there, perhaps even inside," **Optimus said with a sigh.

Jack got a look of determination on his face "Optimus, with all due respect, you said it yourself. This is bigger than the safety of three humans." He spoke with a fire that kinda surprised me, especially after yesterday.

Miko added her two cents, "Yeah, if we let the 'Cons win the whole planet's fragged."

Optimus was silent for a klik. **"Raf?"** he asked the youngest of the humans.

"I want to give it a try," Raf said immediately.

**"And so you will. Ratchet, bridge them to the arrays location,"** Optimus said, impressed with their bravery.

After the kids left, it was more or less a waiting game for the rest of us. My wings twitched anxiously as I mentally prayed that nothing went wrong. I watched the computer screen as the Decepticons locked onto Cybertron for a whole…second before Raf apparently succeeded in hacking into the system and changing their aim. It became a short game of metaphorical tug of war between the two before it locked onto Cybertron and stayed locked on. It was about then the children called for a Ground Bridge.

"What happened?" Stormbreaker asked.

"Some 'Con with no face ruined the party," Miko said in frustration.

"Soundwave," Ratchet put a name to the 'Con.

"He cut the hard lines," Raf said. "There was nothing else I could do."

"**Understood," **Optimus said.

"Optimus! I'm picking up a rapidly expanding mass within their Space Bridge vortex," Ratchet said as a now coherent Agent Fowler joined the children on the higher level. "One with a peculiar energy signature."

"**Dark Energon," **Optimus replied. **"Ratchet, we must destroy the Space Bridge. There is enough live Energon coursing through it to achieve detonation. But we lack the firepower to ignite it."**

Ratchet sighed. "If I knew how the space bridge was engineered I might find a technical way of accomplishing that," he said, frustrated.

Raf then pulled something out of his backpack. "Um...would schematics help?" he asked, holding a flash drive in his hand.

"Optimus, I must say, the space bridge is our only hope of ever returning to Cybertron. Are you certain this is our only option?" Ratchet asked gravely.

**"I am afraid so..."** Optimus' tone was similar to Ratchet's.

"Then by all means, let us light our darkest hour!" Ratchet said, and started giving the other Autobots instructions.

A few kliks later Fowler said nervously, "These things are getting closer...that's bad right?"

"It's very bad," Pathbreaker said simply, looking at the government agent.

"When did you get here?" Fowler asked, looking surprised at his presence. He looked at me and Stormbreaker then. "And you two."

"That's a long story, one that should wait until later," Pathbreaker said, hoping he would drop the matter. Thankfully he did.

**"Ratchet, we're in position,"** I heard Arcee say through the channel.

"Good, now pay close attention!" Ratchet said urgently. "Below you should be a power line, do you see it?" he asked, waiting for a response.

**"Yes,"** Arcee said, after a moment of silence.

Ratchet continued, "Now follow the line to an Energon pump, a large valve should be there."

The line was silent briefly.

**"I found it," **Arcee said, waiting for more instructions.

"Good, now all you need to do is reverse the current," Ratchet's voice sounded calm, but I could tell he was nervous.

**"Current reversed,"** Arcee reported, sounding slightly relieved.

When she said this Fowler jumped in the air, "Yes!..." he yelled. Then, after a micro-klik he looked at Raf. "Right?"

I rolled my optics, and Ratchet, not paying attention to Fowler, said to Arcee, "I'll ready the ground bridge." and walked over to his work station.

**"Don't keep us waiting,"** Arcee said dryly, then closed the channel.

Ratchet reopened the channel, this time it was with Optimus. "The ground bridge is ready and waiting!" his voice held slight fear.

Optimus didn't respond, instead he closed the channel again.

A few kliks later, the Autobots came through the Ground Bridge. Optimus looked faintly sad, but it was only noticeable in trace amounts in his optics. Miko ran up to Bulkhead and he allowed her to hug his servo. Bumblebee and Arcee both looked pretty battered, but the one thing I cared about most was…

"You're all still alive!" I cheered, perhaps a little too cheerfully, as I threw my arms up in joy.

Arcee, Bumblebee and Bulkhead chuckled at my outburst as Optimus smiled ever so slightly and Ratchet rolled his optics, though he looked equally relieved.

"Sis, you're so weird," Stormbreaker said, grinning at me.

"I know I am," I said. "But who isn't? After all, weird is the same thing as unique. Which is good, so weird is good."

"I knew you were gonna say that," Stormbreaker said, shaking her helm.


	5. Just Another Day

**A/N: **Hey guys! Sorry I took so long with this update, but you know vacation's a bugger on the muse. Lol. When I got back to writing I had a slew of writer's blocks to get through. And then other things that got in the way as well.

One thing that has been distracting me is my job hunt. At this point in time my hopes are high for a position at Petsmart. I called them earlier about my application and I was forwarded to the manager(Yay! A step forward!) and he said that he'd contact me if they have any openings and that he has me down that I called in, which is a good thing. The day's not over yet, so I'm still anxiously awaiting that call. Those of you who pray, please pray that I get this job. I really need it and so far in my search it seems to be the one I'd enjoy most. :D

Other things that have distracted me are not as important…video games, swimming, food…well, food is important, but we're not dying of starvation so it's not as important as my job hunt right now. Lol. Also some drawing that I've been doing. *shrugs* And, of course, sleeping.

**Scripture of the Update:**

"_Receive my instruction, and not silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold; for wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things one may desire cannot be compared with her." ~Proverbs 8:10-11 New King James Version_

**Author's Replies:**

**Sailor Shinzo: **I update when I can. Glad you liked it. :)

**Devil-O-Angel: **Pick you? For what? Lol. Right on two accounts. Storm's hasn't arrived yet. :P

**Jayna Prime: **Of course you did. :) Lol. I am glad you liked it so much.

**Knockout'sFanGirl221: **Thanks. :) I'm glad you like it so far. Lol. That's ok, I did the same thing when I noticed that. :) Thanks, though I don't know if it's that good.

**Sci-Fifan95: **Lol. Indeed she was. I am glad you liked it, and thanks. :)

**Mikaela the Cat: **Oh…Lol. Hehe, indeed. :) Oxymoron! XD

**Luna Prime- Awesomeness: **Cool! :) I try. The author who basically created Pathbreaker is Sci-Fifan95, his story is called Fate Calls.

**Vivian Hale: **That is a good saying. Lol. I'm crazy too, which means I'm also normal. :P Don't worry Jazz, you'll be in the story soon. ;) Glad you guys liked it.

**KayleeChiara: **Thanks! Glad you liked it. :)

And now! The chapter…

**Chapter 5: Just Another Day**

_~Thursday, May 3, 2012~__  
><em>

It's been a week so far since we arrived with the Autobots, a few days since the Space Bridge battle. Our rooms have finally been prepared so we could bunk in our own private rooms. Thankfully the rooms were on the ground floor and not in the basement floor. I was getting used to the underground part of the base, with how much Arcee had us training, but I still preferred to be above ground. Ratchet said it was just because it was how seekers naturally are, but it was an easy enough aspect to ignore as long as I kept busy when down there. As I said, I was thankful that the quarters were all on the ground floor.

Our quarters were also all in a row, Ratchet had said something about not wanting to split us up too much, but I wasn't sure what that was about. When I asked him, he said something about how seekers tended to form trines when there were three and he wasn't sure if we were one of those or not. It would be something we would have to discover on our own, as he wasn't completely sure how it all worked. Until we knew, he said it was better to keep our quarters near together just in case. His quarters were on the opposite side of the hallway from where mine was and the other Autobot's weren't too far off.

The inside of our quarters were all pretty much the same. There was a berth, a desk with a chair and a shelf along one wall. When I settled into the one I had chosen for mine, I immediately took the bag that I still possessed from our old world out of my subspace as Freedom jumped onto the berth and stared at me. It was as I was placing the figures I had bought at Botcon that I realized something. Our stuff from then was still sitting in a car in that valley. Stuff that contained stuff related to the Autobots. I had brought it up with my siblings just before going to recharge, and we decided to bring it up to Optimus in the morning, which was, coincidentally, what we were doing now.

"Hey boss bot!" I called, bringing Optimus out of whatever thoughts he was having. Ratchet was with him and he turned to us too. "We need to talk to you about something." I used a more subdued tone now that we had his attention.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

"No, yes," Stormbreaker said, looking a little confused. "It's not really a big deal."

"We realized last night that we left something in the valley you found us in," Pathbreaker said. "We thought we should retrieve it, but figured we should ask first."

"Is it anything important?" Ratchet asked, looking annoyed.

"Well," I said. "One of the things there is my old laptop. Unless it disappeared suddenly, that laptop contains a lot of information about you guys. I'm a little concerned over the possibility of some random kid finding it, or worse, the Decepticons."

Ratchet narrowed his optics at my words and I felt my wings twitch a little. My optics were a little wide as now that I had remembered, I was beyond worried. What if the Decepticons found it? They would use whatever information was on it against the Autobots. I felt my wings twitch again at the thought.

"I understand," Optimus said. "We will…"

He was cut off by a loud boom and we all exchanged a brief, panicked, look before taking off toward the sound. We came to a stop when we found the source. It appeared as though the kids were working on their science projects and their guardians were helping them. Miko was working on a model of the solar system, paint dripping as she painted Jupiter as Bulkhead held the model up for her. Jack and Arcee appeared to be building a motorcycle. And the source of the explosion was Raf's project, which was melting down to nothing, but had been a volcano model.

"What is going on here?" Ratchet asked.

"Our science projects are due tomorrow," Raf said.

"You can't work on them here! You're making a mess!" Ratchet said.

"Science is always messy," I noted, tilting my helm at the mech. He just blinked at me, but my attention was more on their projects by then.

Raf and Bumblebee were now trying to salvage the newspapers they could from the melted volcano.

"Maybe it needs one of these dohickeys," Arcee suggested, holding up a piece of equipment to Jack.

"You're a motorcycle, Arcee," Jack said. "Shouldn't you know how to build a motorcycle engine?"

"You're a human, Jack," Arcee said dryly. "Can you build me a small intestine?"

I felt my lip plates twitch in amusement.

"Hold still Bulk! Jupiter needs its red spot!" Miko exclaimed.

"We need to go retrieve your possessions from the valley," Optimus said, bringing my attention away from the projects.

There was a beeping at the computer that interrupted us again and seemed to break Ratchet out of his own thoughts. He walked over to the computer and typed a command on it.

"Energon is on the move," Ratchet said.

"And if we ain't movin' it, guess who must be," Bulkhead said.

"'Cons," Arcee said.

"Without Megatron?" Miko asked.

"There's still Starscream," I noted. "And Soundwave."

Optimus nodded. "Megatron's legacy will live on as long as there are those who would take his place," he said. He looked to the projects. "Autobots, you have projects to complete. Ratchet, I may require aid."

"But what about their things?" Ratchet asked, indicating the three of us. "If the Decepticons find them, that is, if they haven't already, it won't mean anything good."

Optimus looked thoughtful, then looked to the children. "Can your projects wait until their return?" he asked.

"Sure," Raf said.

"I suppose," Jack said.

"Mine's almost done anyways," Miko said happily.

"Very well," Optimus said. "Bumblebee, you're with me. Arcee, go with Shadebreaker, Pathbreaker and Stormbreaker to retrieve their things. Bulkhead, remain ready in case we need back-up."

Once that was settled, Optimus and Bumblebee went through the Ground Bridge first and then Ratchet set it to the coordinates where they had first discovered us. The three of us and Arcee disappeared through the Ground Bridge shortly after the others, leaving only Ratchet and Bulkhead at base with the kids. We came out in the cave we had taken shelter in.

"Ah, memories," Stormbreaker said.

"Either of you remember what way we go from here?" I asked.

"I believe it is this way," Pathbreaker said and started leading the way.

"I hope the stuff's still there," Stormbreaker said. "We forgot about it for a while."

"With luck no one's gone poking through it," I said. "The last thing we need is Decepticons seeing what's on my laptop."

"Or on my flashdrive," Pathbreaker said.

"Or even simply what's in my bag," Stormbreaker said.

"I thought to grab my bag, why didn't I think to grab the rest?" I sighed at myself and shook my helm.

"Because you're scatter brained," Stormbreaker teased.

"You're scatter brained," I said flatly, giving her an equally flat look.

"Nope, I'm scatter brained," Pathbreaker said and then the three of us burst into laughter, leaving Arcee to roll her optics at us.

"Actually," I said, suddenly sobering. "Starscream is scattered brained. We're just crazy."

Stormbreaker snorted with her laughter. "Starscream, the scatter brained mutant dorito of doom!"

We laughed at that and Arcee looked at us in confusion.

"Dorito?" she asked.

"Oh yeah," I said. "In the movies where we come from, Starscream resembles a mutant dorito. So he's known as the mutant dorito of doom."

"It looks really weird," Stormbreaker said.

"You're weird," I said, smirking.

Stormbreaker glared at me, though her optics sparkled in amusement.

"Pathbreaker once suggested the nickname, Mechanical Butterfly, because he looks kind of like a butterfly in this continuity," I said.

Arcee chuckled. "You three don't like him much, do you?"

"I know I don't," Stormbreaker said. "After what he did to Cliffjumper. And everything else he's done. I'd like to pound a few dents in him."

"I'd like to shrink him and then punt him across the world….eight hundred times," I said.

"Nah, I'll shoot him a few times with my Nucleon," Pathbreaker said.

"And then punt his remains across at least a football field," I said.

Arcee chuckled at us. "You guys can be violent, can't you?" she said.

"Only toward bad guys," Pathbreaker and I both said, causing Stormbreaker and Arcee to laugh.

"Well, leave some of Starscream for me, why don't you?" Arcee asked. "It was my partner he offlined."

"Of course," Stormbreaker said. "You get the first shot."

"And then I shoot him with a Nucleon," Pathbreaker said.

"And then we punt him across a football field," I added.

"Hey, there's my old car!" Stormbreaker said, pointing at the silver Audi parked right where we had left it.

"I still can't get over how similar that car is to Sideways," I said, looking at the car in suspicion. It was not emitting a Cybertronian signature, which was the only reason I wasn't wary as we approached it.

"You mean the stalker car?" Stormbreaker asked.

"That too," I said.

"Stalker car?" Arcee asked.

I waved a hand in dismissal. "It doesn't matter," I said, kneeling down and prying the trunk open. I reached in and grabbed my stuff and placed it in my subspace before backing up so the others could do the same.

Once we had everything out of the vehicle, Arcee called base for a Bridge and it was only moments until we were in the ops center again.

"Well?" Ratchet asked.

I gave a thumbs up. "No worries," I said.

"We lucked out that no one found it before we remembered," Stormbreaker said.

"Great, I'll return to helping Jack now," Arcee said and walked over to where Jack was still puzzling over his motorcycle.

I heard a sigh and looked down to see Raf. "Hey, Raf, you want me to help you with yours while you wait for 'Bee?" I asked.

Raf brightened a bit. "Sure!" he said happily.

I grinned and then joined him by his cleaned area and fresh newspaper. I looked around at his supplies and frowned. I mentally connected to the internet and looked up how to build a volcano with these supplies and then Raf and I got to work.

"How is a volcano made out of paper going to get the best grade?" Ratchet asked.

"It may seem primitive to you, Ratchet," I said. "But it's not as easy as one would think. Everything has to be right or, as happened earlier, it will explode and melt. Would it kill you to learn of Earth?" I asked that as I poked a newspaper into place before Raf smoothed it out.

"Perhaps our young friends should learn more about Cybertron," Ratchet said.

"All well and dandy, but that won't help them in an Earth school, Ratchet," Stormbreaker pointed out.

"Plus, if they went to school with high tech school projects, it might just be suspicious," Pathbreaker said.

"They can learn about Cybertron after their homework is done, if they want to," I said.

"That'd be awesome," Raf said with bright eyes as he held another newspaper to put on his volcano. He looked up at Ratchet. "I'd like to learn more of Cybertron!"

"Hmm," Ratchet replied and I could see a trace of a smile on his lip plates.

Raf turned his attention back to his project, though he started a conversation with me as we worked.

"So, did you ever do anything like this when you were human?" Raf asked.

"No," I shook my head sadly. "My schools I went to never did this kind of stuff. I wanted to though. I've always been fascinated with science. Especially when it came to studying what's in the universe besides Earth. I had always wanted to travel to other planets and meet other life." I chuckled a bit. "It's why I loved the Transformers so much. And other shows with aliens."

Raf smiled and smoothed the newspaper I had poked onto the volcano as I spoke. "It's interesting, though I think most shows don't get anywhere near the truth," he said.

I shrugged. "There could always be aliens out there like ones on the shows," I said. I shuddered a bit. "Some I hope that there aren't. We have enough trouble with the 'Cons."

"I agree," Raf said. "We don't want aliens that would suck our brains out."

"Now I'm pretty sure those are just ridiculous," I said. "I doubt there're aliens that live off human brains."

"Those movies are so unrealistic," Jack put in from where he was attaching a part to his motorcycle. "They're just meant to be scary."

I scoffed. "You want a scary alien show, try watching Falling Skies," I said. "Now those aliens are scary. The show itself isn't scary, but the aliens are."

"What's so scary about them?" Raf asked.

I blinked at him. Thinking about it, in my mind I got the mental image of Raf with one of those slug things attached to his spine and I shook my helm to rid myself of the image. "I'd rather not give you nightmares," I said and wordlessly returned to helping him with his project.

I saw him and Jack share a look of confusion before they both went back to work.

Once their projects were all done, it wasn't long before Optimus and Bumblebee returned and then Arcee took us down to the basement for some training in the simulator.

Our first round in the simulator, Arcee had us go through scenarios where we had to battle Decepticons and protect one of the children as well. Each round, she added another person to protect and a few more enemies. It wasn't easy and we failed several times, having to start over at the beginning.

"No," I stated flatly as I smacked a Decepticon away from the simulated Raf with my melee weapon.

We had started using our melee weapons shortly after the space battle. My melee weapon, which I had to pull from my back-plates, was a large hammer that was taller than I was. The handle of it, which is what made it as long as it is, was both silver and purple in color, being mainly silver with purple lines crisscrossing and zigzagging up it, creating a pattern of some kind. The head of the hammer was fairly large, but not so heavy that I couldn't lift it. I was getting a lot of practice with it along with my ranged weapons from all our times in the simulator, but I still needed more before I could be effective in battle. The head of the hammer was purple with a single stripe around the side that was used to whack enemies with.

Stormbreaker had a set of double blades, which she was learning how to use to the best of her ability. She was getting better with her bow as well, using it with more efficiency every time we trained. I would be worried if she wasn't improving at all, as that couldn't be a good sign. But since she was, it wasn't a worry.

Pathbreaker had a pair of swords he could use, though he preferred his guns over them. Like us, he was improving his battle tactics as well. We also were learning more and more how to effectively work as a team, even when Arcee used a simulation where our communications are jammed.

I didn't take much time to think on it though, as I was too busy transforming my servo into my Plasma Cannon as I held my hammer in my other servo. I fired a few uncharged shots into the group of simulated Decepticons, taking out a few as Stormbreaker fired some arrows from where she stood with simulated Miko standing behind her. We had yet to pass this second stage, as simulated Miko had a habit of disappearing away from her guardian.

"Oh no you don't," Pathbreaker said, this time scooping up simulated Miko as she tried to move closer to the action. He set her back behind a rock even as he fired his Scrapmaker at the 'Cons trying to make their way through them.

I turned and shot a 'Con as it tried to sneak behind me to get Raf and I heard my sister's arrows hit a few 'Cons that tried to take advantage of my distraction. I took up a position, hovering just over simulated Raf, who was cautious enough to stay out from directly under my pedes, so I would be more aware when a simulated Decepticon made a grab for him. I then reached into my grenade pocket and pulled out a flak grenade. Pushing the activation button, I tossed it into the middle of the remaining simulated Decepticons and watched as it exploded, taking out half of the remaining enemies of this round.

At this point, simulated Miko made her way away from the others, but I was the only one to notice. I scooped up simulated Raf and put my hammer into its storage place as I decided to use my Plasma Cannon. I shot at some Decepticons making a grab for simulated Miko as I raced toward her. My efforts made my siblings realize what had happen and Stormbreaker gave more cover fire with her bow as Pathbreaker joined me in trying to get to simulated Miko.

A simulated Decepticon that was larger than the others and held an energy shield in one servo and a large hammer in the other stepped up just in front of simulated Miko. Simulated Miko gasped and ran my way and I fired shot after shot at the simulated brute-like 'Con, keeping it in place as Pathbreaker moved to get behind it and Stormbreaker joined us on this level, pulling out her blades and engaging the simulated 'Cons that made a move for simulated Miko. She also tossed some of her throwing knives at a few that tried to sneak up on me

Once simulated Miko was practically right under my pedes, I stopped moving and distracted the simulated brute long enough for Pathbreaker to shoot its back with his Nucleon a couple times, taking it out. I then set simulated Raf down with simulated Miko and pulled out my hammer, transforming my servo back into a regular hand to use to help me use my hammer better. As the fight continued, I remained in a defensive position over the simulated children, limiting how much I moved my pedes and paying close attention when I did, and whacking enemies away with my hammer as my siblings focused on taking the remainder out.

I got shot a couple times, once in the shoulder, causing my to stumble back a bit before Stormbreaker took out the offender with a vengeance, and once in the pede when I moved it to block a shot taken at simulated Miko, who had moved slightly from under me. That shot had me limping when we finished the round and Arcee called it a day, deactivating the simulator. It wasn't as bad as it would've been in the real world, but it was enough to hurt quite badly.

"Ow," I said as I limped to join Arcee with my siblings. "Are shots from the simulator supposed to hurt like this?"

"It would be much worse if you had been shot in the field," Arcee said. "It's supposed to encourage you to avoid getting shot on the field. It'll only take a minor tweak from Ratchet to fix your limp and the pain should be gone by morning."

"Well, better than getting shot in the spark," I said, rubbing at my chest plates. The first time we had been in the simulator I had gotten shot in the chest plates. Ratchet had grouched at me about that.

Arcee smirked as we all began to leave the basement. Stormbreaker had been hit in the side once as well as her shoulder and Pathbreaker had been hit on the back and pede, though his armor was thicker, a double layer actually, so it didn't really affect him at all.

"Your armor will be a bit thicker once you get your alt modes," Arcee said. "It's more or less just a covering right now, except for Pathbreaker's. His is unusually the same as if he had an alt mode."

"He's just built for battle," I said. "I am not. Simple as that."

Pathbreaker grinned at me. "Sorry sis," he said.

"Don't say sorry for stuff that's not your fault," I said, giving my brother a look.

"Hypocrite," Stormbreaker claimed. "You say sorry all the time for stuff that's not your fault."

"Sorry?" I said uncertainly, gaining a light smack to my shoulder. "Ow! Hey, that shoulder got shot."

"Sorry," Stormbreaker said.

"It's fine," I said, waving it off.

Arcee gave us all an odd look as we entered the med bay. "You three are weird," she commented.

"We know," the three of us said at once, gaining a look from both Arcee and Ratchet.

"The more you three do that, the more I'm believing that you might be a trine," Ratchet commented with a sigh.

"Is that a bad thing?" I asked, tilting my helm at Ratchet.

"No, it isn't," Arcee said. "He's probably just worried you'll turn out to be like the twins."

"Which ones?" Stormbreaker asked.

"Sunflower and Rosebud?" I asked.

"Who?" Ratchet asked with a look of confusion as my siblings chuckled.

"Sunstreaker and Sideswipe," Pathbreaker clarified. "Shade' calls them that because she knows it would irritate them."

"Sunflower is a jerk," I said. "At least if he is anything like fanfictions portray him to be. A vain, cocky jerk. I doubt we'll get along if he shows up."

Ratchet made a noise. "Sounds like Sunstreaker alright," he said. "Now what are you in for?"

"Got shot in the simulator," I supplied.

Ratchet sighed and indicated for us to sit. "Don't get shot in the field," he ordered.

"I will be honest, I make no promises," I said, causing Ratchet to sigh in irritation. "I do promise to try though."

"Yeah, me to," Stormbreaker said.

"I will try as well," Pathbreaker said. "But there are no guarantees."

Ratchet sighed, looking like he didn't like the fact that the Decepticons hurt his fellow Autobots on an almost regular basis. I couldn't say I blamed him, I wasn't happy about it either. Ratchet did the repairs we needed before we left, going to figure out how to spend the rest of our day.

"Shadebreaker," Ratchet said as I started for the door with my siblings. "I believe you wanted to learn how to become a medic."

"I thought you were gonna wait till my combat training was finished," I said in confusion.

"I decided not to," Ratchet said. "Do you want to or not?"

I nodded and then turned to my siblings. "Guess I'll see you later," I said with a smile.

"Sure," Pathbreaker said.

"Of course," Stormbreaker said, giving me a look and smirking before she left with our brother, leaving me confused.

I shook my helm and then walked over to join Ratchet at the work table. "So, what am I doing?" I asked.

"Studying," he said and handed me a data pad. "This contains the basic information to get your training started, I'd like you to read it and then compile a report of your understanding of it."

I felt my wing twitch. "Alright," I said, thinking in my mind that I hoped dyslexia wasn't a problem anymore.

Ratchet caught my wing twitch. "Something wrong?" he asked.

"Oh no, nothing," I said. "I said I was serious about wanting to be a medic and I am. I'll just get to work on this."

He nodded. "Alright," he said. "You may remain here or go somewhere else to do the work, but I expect it back in a couple days."

"Yes sir!" I said cheerfully.

I didn't feel like going all the way to my quarters at the moment, and also expected to have questions, so I simply found a spot that I knew was out of the way and sat down, leaning against the wall. Ratchet looked at me briefly before returning to his work, commenting that he'd be there for any questions I might have. I acknowledge his words and then started reading the data pad. It had been translated into English, for which I was thankful as I was still trying to wrap my processor around the Cybertronian language. Languages were not the easiest things for me to learn.

The data pad was pretty much telling me about all the important parts and wires and cables in a bot's body that needed to be in working order to keep the bot online and functioning properly. There were Energon lines, which were much like blood vessels, and even a sort of respiratory system. Cybertronians didn't have to breathe, but we did require air to keep our bodies from overheating. There was a system of cooling fans and air tubes throughout the body that would kick on if our bodily temperature rose above its normal. Then there were the tanks, where ingested Energon went to when we drank it to then be filtered into the Energon lines at a pace our systems could handle.

The processor was much like the human brain. It communicated with the rest of our systems through small electrical pulses. It was also where our memories and knowledge were stored and where our thoughts took place. A lot of the necessary programing needed for bots to function was centralized in our processors. There was even a part of it that was called a battle computer, which was the source of our ability to come up with battle strategies faster than most humans.

"Huh," I said to myself, recognizing the battle computer thing.

"Hm?" Ratchet asked, looking over at me. "Was there something you don't understand?"

"Not yet, I just was a bit surprised I already knew this bit," I said, pointing at the information on the pad even though I knew he couldn't see it. "Battle computers…I remember it being mentioned in one of the cartoon series and several fans made mention of it in fanfictions."

"Fanfictions?" Ratchet asked, raising his optic ridge.

"Oh, sorry," I said. "Fanfictions are stories written about a fandom-that is tv show or movie or game-that are written by the fans of it, rather than the creator of the tv show, movie or game or whatever."

"I see," Ratchet said. "And how accurate is your knowledge of battle computers?" He sounded curious and a little wary.

"It's fairly accurate from what I can tell," I said. "Except, in the cartoon, if the battle computer was damaged, a bot couldn't fight at all, but it seems that's not the case, we just may be a bit slower."

Ratchet nodded. "Some bots can continue on the same level even without a battle computer," he said. "However, it is still an essential part, as a problem in even an insignificant program or part could cause problems elsewhere."

I nodded. "There's always been the belief that the bot, Prowl, glitches and basically passes out because his logic center is more developed than a normal bot's and short circuits when faced with something extremely illogical," I said. "Is that true?"

Ratchet sighed. "Yes," he said. "That is a problem that, unfortunately, cannot be fixed. It's a simple matter to reboot him when he crashes, but an over developed logic center cannot be undeveloped without harmful, permanent systems damage."

I made mental notes and filed them away into a mental file labeled 'medical stuff'. It was amazing how I could completely organize everything in my mind in a more literal sense than when I was a human. When I was human, whenever I imagined my mind I got a mix between a tropical rain forest, a desert and an ocean. Now, when I imagined my mind, I found a digital world with files and folders and passages that reminded me of data highways. Maybe it's just because it's what I thought my mind was like and it wasn't really any different from when I was human, but I didn't dwell on it too much.

I continued on in my reading, learning as much as I could from the datapad. I was a bit surprised to find how similar our bodies were to humans as far as the purpose for different things. The make-up was completely different and obviously would be repaired in different ways, but we had similar systems. For example, we had a system similar in purpose to the nervous system, which for us was a bunch of wires connecting our entire bodies to our processor. One system we had that humans didn't have was the one related to the transforming ability, which derived from something called a transformation cog, or t-cog for short. Without that part, we would be unable to transform and fall at a disadvantage since we were supposed to be avoiding attention from humans. We also didn't have need of things like kidneys or intestines. We only ingested Energon, which went to our systems and didn't have any extra stuff.

The data pad showed every part, every wire, every cable and, well, everything. Everything from our spark-the most important part-to our most insignificant wire was discussed in this data pad. Needless to say, it took the remainder of the day for me to read through it all. Especially since I paused several times to ask Ratchet to clear some of my confusion up. It didn't tell me everything about each part or system, but it was just to get me started, so I figured that I would learn about them in more detail as I continued. I decided I would start writing the report tomorrow, so I got up to leave, blinking when an Energon cube was suddenly held in front of my face.

"Oh yeah, almost forgot about that, thanks," I said, smiling as I accepted the cube.

"We don't need you crashing because you forgot to take your Energon," Ratchet said in his usually gruff tone.

"Sorry," I said, smiling. "I guess I just got really into my studying that I failed to think about that."

"Just don't forget too often," he warned.

"I'll try," I said as I subspaced the data pad and then took a sip of the Energon.

Once I finished my Energon, I bid Ratchet good night and then left the med bay. I headed toward the quarters, intending to give Freedom her Energon, of which I grabbed on the way out of the med bay, and then get my things in order from where we went and grabbed our stuff from that old car before getting some recharge. I paused however as I heard some stuff being moved around in one of the rooms we had found during our tour that had been empty. I poked my helm inside to find my siblings and Bulkhead working in the room.

"What's up?" I asked, causing them to pause and look at me.

"We are turning this room into a workshop," Pathbreaker answered. "So I can build weapons, armor, gadgets. You know, all around useful things."

I blinked. "Cool," I said. "Well, I'm going to go feed Freedom and then write, maybe, so good night guys, love you both and God bless. And night to you too, Bulk'."

"Night sis," Stormbreaker said. "Love you too."

"Night and God bless, sis," Pathbreaker said.

"Yeah, night," Bulkhead said, setting a box down on one of a few tables that had been brought into the room.

I left again and went straight to my quarters. Once I reached my destination, I set the min-cube of Energon down for Freedom, who rubbed against my pedes before starting on the Energon, and then walked over to my desk. I pulled out my stuff I had fetched from the car and then started carefully unpacking it. My netbook and everything to it, including my Autobot flash drive, I set in the middle of the back of the desk. My books I had taken with me on our trip, including my Bible, all went beside it. The stuff took up very little space on my Autobot-sized desk. That was all I cared to unpack, since the rest was simply clothes, so I just tossed the bags into a far corner and grabbed a data pad and stared at it for a moment.

_What does one write when thrown into the universe of your fandom?_ I asked myself. If I knew how to use a holoform I would simply work on my old fanfics on my netbook. Just because no one would ever read them now, didn't mean I didn't want to finish them.

_There are other fandoms I could still write about in the meantime,_ I thought to myself. _Or I could start one of the many plots I hadn't started yet, since I was concerned about updating timeframes._

In the end I ended up deciding to start on one of the many plot bunnies I had picked up throughout my years. Namely the Avengers plot bunny that I had gotten not long after having watched the movie. I wasn't entirely sure what would come of it, but I knew the general plot and how the beginning went, so I went for it. It was one of my favorite movies, up there with Transformers, so it made sense to me that I had gotten a plot bunny for it.

After writing for a while, getting about half a chapter done, I decided to call it a night and crawled into my berth. I pulled the blanket over me and then felt it as Freedom jumped up and then curled by my head, situating herself in the crook of my neck. I smiled and pet her gently. I had discovered it was one of her favorite places to recharge, much like a certain Earth kitten I used to know. I sighed, pushing away the memories of said kitten as I cuddled Freedom before placing my hand on my chest and slowly drifting off into peaceful recharge.


	6. An Antarctic Find

**A/N: **Update! Yays! This is the longest update I've had so far for this story. 10,972 words! It makes me so happy. :D You know what else makes me happy? Hot chocolate. Hot chocolate makes me happy. My friends do as well. :D My friends/siblings make me the happiest.

Four days ago I had something I wanted to say in this author's note…but I no longer remember what it was. I don't even remember what it was about or I would be able to figure it out. So I'm sorry I don't have the interesting thing to say anymore, because I don't remember what it was.

On a side note, the episode this chapter is based in once you get past the first two scenes is one I've always wanted to write a chapter based on. This is because it is the very first episode of Transformers: Prime that I watched. I admit, I hadn't been interested at first when it first started playing. I was going through some stuff and didn't want to watch something new. And then that changed when I happened to settle down and watch the episode. And then I was like O.O and then I went to youtube, watched from the beginning and I haven't missed an episode since.

Another note I am making is that I have decided I am going to start giving each of my chapters of this story a credit song. So start looking at the end for the credit song of the chapter! :D

Also, starting this chapter, Sci-Fifan95 is going through my chapters and helping me catch little mistakes and typos and stuff. So basically he is now my beta for this story, like I am for his FC. So big thanks go to the bestest brother in the world!

**Scripture of the Update: **

"_Every prudent man acts with knowledge, but a fool lays open his folly." ~Proverbs 13:16 New King James Version_

**Author's Replies:**

**Sci-Fifan95: **Indeed! Lol. She wouldn't be too happy about that though. Lol. You and weapons. Glad you liked it. :)

**Jayna Prime: **Glad you liked it so much. :D I lurvs you too sis. ^.^

**Magical Princess: **If you recall, they packed everything when they left the hotel and it's been in the car ever since. I make no promises on time between updates. Too many factors to know for sure. And you used to be Sailor Shinzo….everyone's changing their usernames! XD

**Autobot-Blurr 221: **You keep changing your name! XD Anyways, I am glad you like this story so much! Thanks! ^.^ Glad you think so. Lol. Yeah, I do. Why wouldn't I? They are real, sentient beings, aren't they? ^.^ I do my best!

**TransFanFreak101:** Thanks for praying. :) I am glad you like it! :D We'll just see.

**Vivian Hale: **It is awesome. :) Really? Interesting. Lol. Don't worry Jazz. Just wait a few more chapters. ;P Otherwise my sis would be sad and we can't have that. ^.^

And now! Finally! The chapter! Enjoy.

**Chapter 6: An Antarctic Find**

_~Saturday, May 5, 2012~_

It's been a couple days since the kids had built their projects, we had fetched what stuff we had had in that car and I had started my medic training with Ratchet. The kids all got good grades on their projects and I had impressed Ratchet with the report I wrote from the information he had given me to read. Enough that he seemed to think it wasn't a bad idea teaching me to be a medic at least, as he gave me some more information to go through.

Another thing that had happened over the past couple days was that my siblings and I got our alternate modes yesterday. We had been correct when we had assumed that Pathbreaker was a triple changer, so he got two vehicle modes. His ground mode was an MRAP Cougar HE, a military vehicle of similar size to his airborne alt mode, which was an F-22 Raptor. Stormbreaker chose a MiG 29K Fighter Jet, which I found suite her quite well. I chose an L39 Albatros Jet Fighter, my reasoning being that it was one of the smaller jet fighters and I liked being small as it often times offered more maneuverability. We all modified our alternate modes a bit from their original designs, giving them more speed capabilities than they have without modifications.

Now that we had our alt modes, we also had to learn how to fly. Pathbreaker had gotten in his flight practice already, having opted to do flight practice first today instead of battle training. Stormbreaker and I had been hesitant to take to the air, so we had done combat practice first with Bumblebee, Bulkhead and Optimus. Now Pathbreaker was doing combat practice with Bulkhead and Optimus while Stormbreaker and I took our first flight under Ratchet's supervision. Bumblebee and Arcee were both in the Rec Room with the human children, who were made to stay indoors in case of incident.

"I am not sure about this," I said, looking over the edge of the cliff. We were on the area on top of the base.

"Relax, sis," Stormbreaker said from where she was standing next to Ratchet. "It'll be fine."

One of my wings twitched as I took a deep breath and released it. "I don't know anything about flying," I said, my wings twitching downward slightly as I blinked and backed away from the edge.

"Just focus," Ratchet said. "Controlling an alternate mode isn't any different from controlling your bipedal mode. It should come to you naturally."

"And if it doesn't I go spiraling down to the ground," I said, frowning down the cliff side again.

"Sis," Stormbreaker said, walking over. "You're controlling yourself. What can control you, besides you? It's not going to be like the wreck you had when you were still human. You're not going to get hurt and neither is anyone else."

I blinked at my sister. Of course she would pick up on the reason why I was concerned about flying. She was there for me in the weeks after I had had a car accident several months ago. It was not a very happy time for me, as I imagined it wasn't for anyone who got in an accident.

"Controlling yourself is different from controlling a machine," Stormbreaker said. "You can do this."

I nodded, gaining a bit of courage from her encouragement. Ratchet informed us how the transformation was done and it wasn't long before the two of us were in the air, flying around in circles above where the base was.

"**Remember, don't go far," **Ratchet reminded us through the comlink when we started to stray a bit from the circle. **"Military jets flying over Jasper in circles might look suspicious."**

"**Gotcha Docbot," **Stormbreaker replied.

"**We won't," **I added.

I had relaxed into the feel of flying a few minutes after we had started flying around, but I still wasn't confident enough to try any tricks. Stormbreaker did though as she pulled a flip and rolled over to the side.

"**Come on sis! Loosen up," **Stormbreaker said, laughter in her voice.

"**I am,"** I said. **"I just don't feel like pulling tricks. I will go at my own speed."**

"**Ok ok," **Stormbreaker said. **"But this is fun." **She emphasized her statement by rolling again before turning back toward where Ratchet was watching us from.

I sighed a bit and turned to follow her. When we neared the ground, Stormbreaker just transformed and landed, sliding across the ground a bit before coming to a stop near the only tree that stood on the top of the cliff that covered the silo our base was inside of. I just slowed down a lot and came to a hover just above the ground before I transformed and landed solidly on my feet.

"That was fun!" Stormbreaker said happily.

"Yes, I admit it was fun," I said, smiling.

"Maybe next time you'll be braver," Stormbreaker said, nudging me as the three of us went to return to the inside of the base.

"We shall see," I said.

"You are still not completely comfortable with flying," Ratchet observed as we entered the elevator.

"Well, no," I said. "When I was human, I was in a car accident several months ago. I didn't drive again after that. No one beside me was hurt in it, I only got minor injuries, but I was still terrified of ever being behind the wheel of a car again. Like Storm' told me though, controlling myself is different from controlling a machine. It shouldn't take too long for me to be able to be comfortable with flying. After all, it's not like I'm on a rode with a bunch of other cars when I'm in the air." I pointed up in emphasis on the "air" part. "And I've learned my lesson about not being completely observant."

Ratchet nodded and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Just remember, you have friends that are here for you if something does happen," he said.

"We're here for ya sis," Stormbreaker said. "I told you, you'd get through it and I'd be right there with ya when ya did."

I chuckled as Ratchet's hand dropped to his side. "That you did," I said. I pulled her into a small hug. "Thanks. Though I honestly don't think I'd ever have gotten over it without this happening." I waved my hands in the air to indicate, well, everything. It was generally a good thing my sister had learned to understand me when I'm waving my arms around since I tended to do so. It was an old habit from my flag corp. days, as we always told each other, "If all else fails just keep waving your hands around and we'll understand". It was strange, but true.

"Everything happens for a reason," Stormbreaker said.

With our first flying practice done with, we had a couple hours before our next battle training and I had a couple days to go through the data pad Ratchet had given me before he expected my next report. So, since we had free time, Stormbreaker and I went to the Rec Room to see what the others were up to. Ratchet, of course, went to the Ops Center without so much as a glance back to us.

When we arrived in the Rec Room we found that our brother and Bulkhead had also joined Bumblebee and Arcee in the area with the kids. They all seemed to be gathered around the TV, which had what appeared to be one of the Halo games playing on it.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Stormbreaker asked.

"AHH!" Miko screamed.

"What's got her so jumpy?" I asked curiously.

"You'd be jumpy too if you played Slender recently," Miko said.

"Slender?" I asked.

"What's that?" Stormbreaker asked.

Arcee shrugged. "I don't know," she said.

"I never heard of it either," Pathbreaker said.

Miko sighed at the fact none of us understood. She looked at Raf. "Hey, is there any way you could hook up your laptop to the TV?" she asked.

"Sure," Raf said, adjusting his glasses. "Why?"

"Because I want you all to understand my fear!" Miko said, throwing her hands up. "So could you stick this flash drive in, open Slender and hook it up so we can see it on the TV?"

Raf shrugged and got to work on that as Miko turned to us.

"So, who likes horror games?" she asked.

"Not me," Stormbreaker said, waving her hands in front of her.

"I'm not a fan," Pathbreaker said.

"What's the point in scaring yourself?" Arcee asked.

**.:I'd rather not.:. **Bumblebee beeped, shaking his helm.

"Miko, are you sure this is a good idea?" Bulkhead asked. "If it's so scary, we shouldn't let you expose yourself to it."

"But Bulk'! It's fun to get scared sometimes!" Miko said. She looked at me hopefully.

I sighed. "Fine, I'll do it," I said. "But if I have nightmares, I'm blaming it on you this time."

"Sounds fair," Miko said, grinning as I activated my holoform, which looked exactly like I did when I was human, except now my eyes were blue to match my optics.

As Raf hooked his computer, I walked my holoform over to join the children on the small couch and sat my real self down next to the Autobot sized couch behind it. Once Raf had it hooked up and the game opened from the file on Miko's flash drive, he handed his laptop over to me and Miko explained the game to me.

"Ok, you use the arrow keys to move around," Miko said. She picked up Raf's wireless mouse and waved it at me. "And luckily, we got one of these. Move this around to change where you're looking at and when you find a note you click to pick it up. Use the shift key to sprint."

"Ok, what are notes?" I asked, not daring to click the start button until I knew what I was doing.

"There are eight notes," Miko said. "You have to find them all before Slenderman gets you."

"Slenderman, huh?" Jack asked. "Doesn't sound too scary."

"Famous last words," Miko said with an air of mischievousness. As Jack gave Miko a weird look, I just knew she was going to get a kick out of whatever happened.

"Alright, shh I'm starting," I said, clicking on the start button.

"Oh! Almost forgot, the f key is to turn your flashlight on and off, e is to zoom in and w is to zoom out," Miko said as I started walking.

"Good to know," I said, being focused on the computer screen as the others watched it on the TV screen. I could see the TV screen as well from my real body, but I was focused mainly on what my holoform was seeing.

The game apparently took place in a fenced in forest in the middle of the night. I experimented and found that if I turned the flashlight off then I couldn't see at all, so I figured I would probably leave it on. Being a forest there were a lot of trees, but one big one seemed to stand out when I neared it.

"I feel like this tree is important," I said as I approached the tree cautiously. I looked around to make sure there was no one who could be this Slenderman around me.

"Sometimes there will be a note on it," Miko said. "But not always, because it is randomized."

"To prevent cheating," Raf observed. "That's pretty smart."

"Hmm," I said, too concentrated to say much else.

"Where is this Slenderman anyway?" Arcee asked, seeing as how I had been playing a whole minute and we had not seen or heard anything.

"He won't be around until she has at least one note," Miko said.

I circled the tree, finding a piece of paper attached to it. When Miko confirmed it was the first note, I looked at it since I was fairly certain it was safe to take the time to do so. It was a drawing of a tall man wearing a black suit with apparently a completely white face that lack eyes, ears, nose and mouth. Around the man was the word "no" written repeatedly.

"Is it just me, or does that picture not have a face?" I asked.

"Maybe whoever drew it didn't go into detail," Raf suggested.

Miko remained silent and no amount of staring at her seemed to be getting her to speak. I had the sneaking feeling that the actual Slenderman really didn't have a face. So I turned back to the game and clicked the mouse, picking up the page. I tensed when a booming sound started. It sounded like something really big was walking through the forest, somehow not snapping any trees. It was an ominous sound and if memory served whenever a sound like that was in a video game it denoted something dangerous.

"Ah don' like dat sound," I said, moving on to search more of the forest. "Ah don' like dat sound at all."

"It's just a sound," Bulkhead said.

"A sound that typically is a precedent to something bad," Stormbreaker pointed out. I could almost sense her own tenseness as she watched the TV.

"It's a design tactic," Pathbreaker said as I began looking around a truck and what appeared to be a small trailer house. "Meant to get you worked up about something so when the actual thing jumps out at you, you are more likely to be frightened."

"Nadda here," I said, noticing vaguely that my old southern accent was showing up in my tense state.

I moved on and walked through the forest. I turned around shortly after leaving the trailer and heard this odd sound that usually plays when something bad happens. The reason for this was clear as there was a man in the distance wearing a black suit and a white head with no face on it. I squeaked and quickly turned away, hitting the sprint button.

"That was Slenderman, right?" I asked. I spared just enough of a glance to see Miko nod. "He had no face. He looked like a creeper and he had no face. I had a bad experience with a creeper, I do not want to know what happens with a creeper who has NO FACE!" My voice was slightly panicked as I raced through the forest, coming to a building. My accent disappeared, but so did my use of contractions, which tended to happen when I reached a new level of freaking out than the one my accent shows up on.

I stopped outside and looked around. After being satisfied that I had lost him, I turned to go into the building.

"Going into the bathroom," Miko said, her tone suggesting it was a place where Slender players hated to go. "Be careful, it's easy to get cornered in there."

"Duly noted," I said, narrowing my holographic eyes at the screen.

I searched through the "bathroom" and was satisfied that so far I had not run into Slenderman again. I entered one room and immediately caught sight of a page stuck to the far wall. I gave an "Ah ha" and walked over to it and picked it up. I turned around, half expecting to find Slenderman behind me, but when I saw no sign of my pursuer I let out a sigh of relief and walked out of the room. I turned one way, but screamed and jumped when Slenderman stood in the doorway to what would've been my exit and the screen went slightly fuzzy with a static. I started on a trail of unintelligible words as I turned the other way and sprinted all the way out of the building and kept moving away even after my sprint ran out and the character was panting.

"Ratta ratta!" were the only understandable words in my rant and were the last two uttered before I stared at the screen, looking around to be sure I had lost the creeper.

"The screen went fuzzy, what was that?" Bulkhead asked.

"Insanity," Miko said. "If he catches you, you go insane."

I made a displeased noise that held my fear in it. "As if I am not insane enough," I said, on the verge of hyperventilating.

A brief glance with my real self told me that Stormbreaker was freaked out at least as much as I was, if her hiding behind Pathbreaker was any indication. Pathbreaker himself looked to be tense and he was watching the screen presumably for any sign I was headed into danger. Arcee didn't look scared, but I did notice that she seemed to be a bit closer to the other present Autobots than she had when I had started the game. Bulkhead was peeking out from where he had covered his face with one of his hands. A look at the humans told me that Raf was now cuddling a pillow with his glasses half fallen off and Jack looked freaked out as well. Miko on the other hand, simply looked amused by us all. Something told me she had only been acting to get someone to play this game.

Now, usually that thought would've made me quit playing, because I did not appreciate being tricked into something. I especially didn't appreciate being tricked into scary things. However, I was also stubborn and didn't want to quit just because of two jump scares. So, instead of handing the computer over to someone else, I took a deep breath and continued on. I stubbornly ignored the pounding footsteps that were still sounding in the background and I walked through the forest.

"You know, it's kind of easy to ignore the thundering footsteps after a while," Jack noted as I picked up the third page from a rock. He froze, and so did I, when an ominous piano started playing along with the footsteps.

I gave him a look that said "I blame you" before turning back to the screen and turning my character around. Apparently turning around is about the worst thing you can do in this game as literally right behind me was Slenderman. I barely had time to take in the static and the tentacles before I, and a few others, screamed and my holoform dissipated as my real self jumped behind the Autobot-sized couch. I peered over, glaring at the screen as I shook.

"Did….that guy just sprout…tentacles?" Jack asked in shocked when the static went away to reveal Raf's background. Apparently it automatically exited the game.

"Did he just change his mass? I've checked the library, Cybertronians are the only known race, organic or mechanical, that know how to use subspace," Pathbreaker said skeptically as Stormbreaker continued to hide behind him, no longer looking at the TV screen.

"It's part of the legend!" Miko exclaimed.

"W-why did you make us watch that?" Stormbreaker asked, her tone half way between anger and fear.

"To laugh at your reactions," Miko said, taking out her phone and taking a picture. "One for the scrapbook."

"You're mean, Miko," Raf said, looking entirely freaked out and he hadn't even been the one in control.

It was at that moment that the door to the Rec Room opened, bringing my attention to it, and Ratchet and Optimus came in, looking on high alert.

"What has happened?" Optimus asked.

"We heard screaming," Ratchet said.

"Miko made us watch Shadebreaker play a horror game called Slender," Arcee explained, looking and sounding calm, but the minute upward tilt of her wing-like appendages told us easily that she was tense, just not as freaked out as the rest of us.

Ratchet peered around her to see me still ducked behind the couch, wings tilted upward and back and optics wide as I stared back. He looked a little bit concerned by my apparent fear.

"Is that why Shadebreaker is hiding behind the couch?" Ratchet asked.

"And not saying anything," Stormbreaker confirmed. "It was a very scary game. She just jumped there at that last jump scare."

"I am never playing that game again," I said, my voice shaking from the residual shock factor from the game.

"Aww, but being scared's half the fun!" Miko said happily.

Pathbreaker gave her a calm, yet stern look. "Miko, do you see how you're having fun off of the fear of others?" He asked.

"That was the point. Duh!" Miko said, seemingly thinking Pathbreaker was stupid for asking such a thing.

My brother didn't react to the slight insult. "How would you feel if you were in their position?" he asked.

Miko rolled her eyes. "The game wasn't even that scary!"

_Not scary? Really? _I thought incredulously, giving Miko an incredulous look, though she missed it due to looking mainly at my brother.

"To you, the one who was more interested in seeing how scared everyone else was." Pathbreaker cut her off as his left optic twitched, a sure sign he was quite angry at Miko for her actions.

Miko scoffed. "Well, what do you expect me to do? This place is so boring!"

Pathbreaker gave her an intense look for a few moments. "I see that you won't accept the fact that what you did was wrong." He turned and started to walk out the Rec Room, only to turn back to Miko and give her a glare that could've melted steel. "You made one of my sisters play a game that she otherwise wouldn't have played unless you begged her to, and as a result, you scared BOTH of my sisters very much. For that, I will do the same to you. Rest assured, you will not know when, you will not know how, and you will not know where." With those last words, he pressed the button on the other side of the door and the door closed.

Bulkhead, in what was likely going to lead to him trying to talk Pathbreaker out of scaring Miko, quickly went over to the Rec Room door and opened it, but Pathbreaker had vanished.

I looked over at Stormbreaker with wide optics.

"You know, our brother is kinda scary when he's mad," she said.

I didn't say anything, but I did agree about that.

**~A Week Later~**

_~Saturday, May 12, 2012~_

A week after the Slender Incident, as it was now referred to whenever it was mentioned, my sibling's and my training was finished and we would now be allowed to go on missions. I had grown comfortable with flying and now I was as brave about it as Stormbreaker and Pathbreaker were. I had also stopped jumping at shadows after a couple of days of being jumpy due to that game. My couple days of jumpiness, though, led Ratchet to ban horror games from the base period. He said that it was unhealthy if we walked around scared all the time because of some game. Miko was the only one who protested, saying that it is fun being scared. I don't think anyone agreed with her.

Speaking of Miko, Pathbreaker had revealed to me that he wasn't going to actually do anything to her, the threat itself was what was meant to frighten her and it seemed to be doing its job. I caught her more than once jumping at shadows while on base. By now everyone had figured out nothing was going to happen and aside from the ban staying in place the whole thing seems to have blown over.

After that incident we had simply trained with the others and ran through the obstacle course. I had given Ratchet my second report and also a third one as well throughout the week and he was now having me do some small hands on stuff with him whenever I wasn't in battle training. I wasn't sure what my schedule would look like now that battle training was done.

"Shadebreaker," Optimus addressed me as I walked into the Ops Center and I was happy to find I didn't jump at his voice. "Ratchet has detected a Cybertronian signal in the Antarctic. I would like you to go with Bulkhead and Bumblebee to look into it. Bulkhead is the head of the mission, follow his lead."

"Yes sir," I said, giving a small salute. It was a habit I seemed to be picking up doing whenever I was given an order. It wasn't a requirement, according to Optimus, but I still did it. I wasn't sure if I had picked up the habit from my older sister, who was an Air Force person, or from my days in my high school flag corp.

"Remember, do not go into vehicle mode," Ratchet warned as he handed Bulkhead a scanner. "It would expend your energy much faster."

"We hear ya, Ratch'," Bulkhead said. "Come on guys." He waved to me and Bumblebee and then we headed through the Ground Bridge.

We exited the Ground Bridge in what appeared to be nighttime for the Antarctic and I had to wait a moment for my optics to adjust. Being Cybertronian meant I could see extremely well in the dark after my optics adjusted, so the dark of night turned into day for me and my fellow Autobots. Our visibility was only for about half a kilometer, but after that it was just white from all the snow blowing around.

"So, what way do we go?" I asked Bulkhead, squinting through the snow. It appeared as if there was nothing to find aside from snow.

Bulkhead looked at the scanner and then pointed in front of us. "According to the scanner, it's this way, north of our current location," Bulkhead said.

**.:Let's get on with it, it is freezing here,:. **Bumblebee beeped as we started walking in the direction Bulkhead said the scanner indicated we should go.

"I agree," I said, shivering a little already.

We walked through the snow and wind for several klicks before we gained any indication that we were getting any closer to whatever it was we were looking for. The scanner in Bulkhead's hand beeped when we neared the edge of a downward slope and we looked down it and then looked at each other before we started down the slope. I noticed while heading down, being careful not to slip and fall or trip over my own feet, that there was a frozen lake at the bottom of the slope.

"Looks like we found it," Bulkhead said once we were at the bottom.

Beneath the ice was…something. Whatever it was, it was the source of the Cybertronian signature. It was probably frozen and covered in ice, so it was probably going to be really heavy.

**.:So how are we going to get it out?:. **Bumblebee asked.

"We gotta get the ice out of the way before we can move it," I said, standing on the ice and looking down at the object we were here before.

"Alright, you might want to stand back," Bulkhead said, deploying one of his clubs.

I started to move away to stand with Bumblebee while Bulkhead handled the ice, but my feet slid from underneath me. In my efforts to stabilize myself, I ended up merely falling on my butt instead of on my face.

"And this is why I never liked ice," I sighed as I sat there for a moment. I got up easily enough though. "Love snow, but hate ice." I muttered to myself as I carefully walked over to where Bumblebee stood.

**.:You alright?:. **Bumblebee asked me as Bulkhead easily put cracks into the ice.

"I'm alright," I said. "It's not like I've never fallen on my butt before."

Once Bulkhead got the ice cracked, we were able to remove enough ice to get to the object underneath. Getting the object out of the lake was still a difficult task. I briefly entertained the idea of just jumping down and rolling it to the shore, but with the temperature of the water, it'd be days before one of us recovered from that trip, so that idea was out before it could be spoken. We discussed a few different ways we could get the object out before actually getting it out.

When we finally had the thing out, it was clear that it was a pod of some kind. It would definitely need to thaw before we could find out what was inside. We called for a Ground Bridge once we had it safely on the ground and then rolled in through the green portal that appeared. We placed it in a storage room to thaw out before being ushered to the med bay by Ratchet for defrosting.

It wasn't long after the defrosting started that I started whistling and swinging my legs back and forth while I sat on the berth next to Bumblebee. It turned into the both of us whistling tunes back and forth to each other as if we were having a conversation through whistling. Of course, we weren't, but it was fun anyway. Ratchet just rolled his optics at us and continued monitoring the progress.

"Alright, alright," Bulkhead said, cutting off our whistling. "Can we go now? We're fine." He started to get up and even detached a medical cable from himself.

"The only way to be sure you're fine, Bulkhead, is to endure standard defrosting procedure," Ratchet said, pushing Bulkhead back onto the berth next to the one Bumblebee and I sat on. "You know prolonged exposure to sub-zero temperatures can cause permanent system damage."

Bulkhead sighed as Ratchet went back to the computer monitors. We waited for several more klicks and during that time, the three of us had started playing games of tic-tac-toe to pass the time. It helped us all be able to sit still more as we stared at our games as if we were pondering battle strategies rather than how to get three 'x's or 'o's in a row.

"I win that round," Bulkhead said, putting a line through his 'x's.

"What are you doing?" Ratchet asked, coming over with a slightly perplexed look on his face.

"Playing tic-tac-toe," I replied, not even looking away from where we were starting a new game between Bumblebee and Bulkhead.

Ratchet just stared at us momentarily, as if he was surprised we had been quiet for the last few klicks, before blinking. "Well, you three are free to leave now," he said. "The defrosting procedure is completed now."

**.:Yay!:. **Bumblebee cheered as he stood from the berth and detached the cables from himself.

"About time," Bulkhead said, relieving himself of his own cables rather quickly.

I removed the cables a bit more carefully than the two mechs, even as the door opened and Optimus walked in.

"Ratchet, have you discovered anything about our Antarctic find?" Optimus asked.

Ratchet shook his helm. "We won't know anything more until the pod unfreezes," he said.

Optimus nodded and then turned to the three of us. "Bulkhead, Bumblebee," he addressed the two mechs. "I would like you two to go pick up the children. Arcee will be leaving for a mission shortly, so she will be unavailable to pick up Jack."

"Sure thing Optimus," Bulkhead said.

**.:We'll get the kids, including Jack,:. **Bumblebee said, nodding before he and Bulkhead left the med bay.

Optimus turned to me. "Shadebreaker, I'd like for you to locate your siblings and let them know they wanted for a mission," he said. "We will investigate to see if we can find any clues."

"Of course, Optimus," I said. "They are probably down in the Safe. I'll have them up here in a jiffy."

Optimus nodded his acknowledgement of my words and then I headed out of the med bay, leaving Optimus and Ratchet behind to talk. I found my siblings where I thought they would be, in the Safe, practicing their shooting.

"Hey guys," I said, walking up and grinning at the bullseye Stormbreaker got on a target they had painted on a car.

"Hey," Pathbreaker said.

"Hey sis," Stormbreaker said, grinning as she put her bow away. "What's up?"

I looked up and then back to my siblings. "The ceiling," I said, pointing up. They both chuckled and rolled their optics. "But anyway, Optimus says you two are wanted for a mission."

"Our first mission!" Stormbreaker said happily, already walking to go to the Ops Center. Pathbreaker and I followed behind shortly.

"You said Optimus wanted us two," Pathbreaker said as we walked. "Does that mean you are not coming with us?"

"I went on a mission earlier," I said. "I am presuming that he does not want to put me back in the Antarctic so soon after dethawing." I shrugged.

"The Antarctic? That sounds cold," Stormbreaker said.

"Should be interesting," Pathbreaker said. "It is winter there."

"It is cold," I supplied. "I would suggest staying away from frozen ponds if possible."

Stormbreaker grinned back at me. "Don't worry, sis," she said. "We'll be careful."

We arrived in the Ops Center and my siblings were briefed by Optimus on the mission as I leaned against a wall and waited till he was done so I could wish them luck and all that. When they were briefed, I walked over as Optimus turned to Ratchet. Arcee was standing with them too.

"Have fun freezing your afts off," I said. Stormbreaker rolled her optics. "Be careful out there. Antarctica is a harsh climate."

"For the umpteenth time, we will," Stormbreaker said.

"That was only the second time," Pathbreaker pointed out in an amused tone.

"Yeah, yeah," Stormbreaker said, her optics twinkling.

"I'll make sure they are careful," Arcee promised.

It was only a few moments later that the four departing bots were standing in front of an activated Ground Bridge.

"Call for a Bridge when your sensors go into the blue zone," Ratchet told them. "At that point system failures aren't likely, they're imminent."

Optimus, Arcee and my siblings nodded just as Bulkhead and Bumblebee rolled into base. The kids climbed out and Jack looked up at Arcee.

"Hey Arcee, I didn't expect to car pool," Jack said.

"Tag team, Jack," Arcee replied. "My turn for exploration duty."

"Huh, I heard it's going to be nice today…" Jack stated. "Would hate for you to feel guilty for leaving me indoors."

"Antarctic exploration duty," Pathbreaker pointed out.

"Inside where it's warm," Jack said, walking off to join the others.

"The Antarctic?" Raf asked, walking up. "I've always wanted to see snow."

"I would invite you to join, Rafael," Optimus said. "But the conditions are too extreme, even for we Autobots."

"I understand," Raf said, though he looked disappointed.

The team of four started for the Bridge, but Optimus paused and turned back to Raf. "But I will bring you back a snowball," he said.

"That would be awesome," Raf said, smiling.

Within moments after that, my siblings and the others disappeared through the Ground Bridge. I couldn't help the twinge of worry I felt for my adopted siblings as I watched the portal disappear as Ratchet shut off the Ground Bridge. I heard the sound of sparkling and looked over to see Ratchet staring at the controls in disbelief and that the screen above it had shut off. I immediately knew something was wrong and walked over.

"Did the Ground Bridge…just die?" I asked, wings twitching as I looked at Ratchet for an answer.

"I'm afraid so," Ratchet said, messing with the controls. Nothing happened, but they were sparking a lot. He smacked his fist into the side. "Slaggit." He looked over his shoulder to where Bulkhead and Bumblebee were with the children by the game system that was hooked up in this room was. "Bulkhead! Bumblebee! Here, now!"

"Just because the boss is out doesn't mean you can boss us around," Bulkhead said.

"The Ground Bridge is out, I need some heavy lifting," Ratchet said.

_And I can't do that, why?_ I thought, but kept my mouth shut. It was possible that whatever needed lifted was too heavy for me, especially if Ratchet seemed to think he couldn't do it himself.

**.:The others made it through, right?:.** Bumblebee asked.

"Optimus and the others made it through just fine," Ratchet said. "It's bringing them back that concerns me. Now move those panels, chop chop." He pointed to some panels on the floor.

Bulkhead and Bumblebee did as instructed and then Ratchet kneeled down and started looking through the circuits that reminded me a lot of the circuit boards I worked with when I was in high school. I knew there was a reason I had taken that class.

"Perhaps I can help look?" I asked, kneeling down next to Ratchet.

He glanced at me as Bumblebee and Bulkhead looked on. I vaguely noted that they looked surprised when Ratchet nodded. "Do you know what to look for in things like this?" he asked, holding up one of the circuit boards that were quite tiny compared to us.

I nodded. "I took computer repair classes when I was in high school," I said. "I've worked with circuit boards like this before. I couldn't repair one though." I looked sheepish at that. We had not gotten that far in the class before I graduated.

Ratchet nodded in understanding and we started looking through the numerous circuit boards. I knew what each piece was and how to tell if it was damaged, but I was not certain on how to fix the problem beyond replacing the boards with new ones if there were any damaged ones. Something was wrong though, whether it was with these circuits or another circuit or something else entirely, something was wrong.

Looking through the circuit boards made me wonder what my old high school classmates were all up to these days. I knew at least five of them were in college now, as I had been shortly before going on the vacation with my siblings that had ultimately led me here. Others I knew had gotten jobs and I knew one had passed away not long ago in a car accident, giving me another reason to not want to drive. Some of them I missed, but others I couldn't say I really did. I didn't miss being in high school, that was for sure.

I was brought out of my thoughts when I pulled out a circuit board that was clearly damaged. It sparked some as I pulled it out and looked at it, raising an optic ridge. It looked as if something had used it as a snack, like something had taken bites out of it. Around the bites marks were what looked like scorch marks, probably from where it had sparked when it was bitten into. The power flickered as I looked at it and I briefly looked up at the lights as if doing so would make them stay on.

"Hey, Ratchet, found something," I said, holding the circuit out so everybot present could see it.

Ratchet took the circuit as the power flickered again and inspected it as Bumblebee and Bulkhead leaned in for a look and Jack and Miko walked over. "Hmm," he said. "We must definitely have a problem. But what could've caused this?"

"It looks like something took a bite out of it," I put in my observation.

"Yes, but the only thing I know of…" Ratchet started, but was interrupted when Raf showed up.

"Hey guys! Look what I found!" Raf called.

"We're busy," Ratchet said grumpily, but we all looked anyway. "AH!" In a movement faster than I was aware Ratchet could move, he got to his feet and backed away from Raf as Bulkhead and Bumblebee did the same, pointing their weapons at the creature in Raf's arms.

"Scraplet! Scarplet!" Bulkhead said, freaking out.

"What's a Scraplet?" Raf asked, still holding the creature.

"The most dangerous vermin to ever walk the face of Cybertron," Ratchet said.

"What? This?" Jack asked.

"But scrappy here is tiny," Miko said.

I had to agree with them as I looked at the creature from where I still kneeled by the open access panels. The creature Raf held in his arms was tiny and looked harmless. It was silver in color and its head was much larger than its body. From what I could tell, its optics were rather huge and that observation was proven true when its optics opened and looked right at me. They were a pretty purple color.

"It looks cute from…" I cut myself off when it leapt from Raf's arms, many rows of sharp looking teeth bared. "…Scratch that."

I stood and started to back up to the others, but the Scraplet suddenly jumped and before I could blink, I felt something on my left arm biting. I squeaked and instinctively swatted it off. It landed on the ground where Bumblebee and Bulkhead took shots at it as I retreated next to Ratchet, who immediately looked at my arm while keeping an optic on the Scraplet.

"I officially don't like Scraplets," I stated flatly as Ratchet inspected the area now leaking a bit of Energon. It wasn't bad though and my internal repair systems were already at work fixing the minor damage.

I looked over in time to see the Scraplet attach itself to Bumblebee's leg and the yellow mech to fall to the ground. He grabbed the Scraplet, but it only started chewing on his arm before he flicked it off. It landed on the ground again, but this time Raf beat it with a crowbar he found somewhere. He over killed it actually, before Jack took the pipe from him.

"Easy there killer," Jack said as Ratchet moved to check on Bumblebee after deciding my wound wasn't anything to worry about.

Raf ran over to where Ratchet was inspecting Bumblebee's minor wounds. "I'm sorry 'Bee!" he said, sounding and looking panicked as he looked at Ratchet. "Is he gonna be ok?"

"It's only a mesh wound," Ratchet said, sounding relieved the Scraplet hadn't done more damage. "He'll live."

"Now do you believe us?" Bulkhead asked. "All Scraplets do is dismantle machinery and eat anything metal. Especially living metal."

"Well, bug squashed, game over, right?" Jack asked.

"No," Ratchet said. "When it comes to Scraplets there's never just one. And I fear I know how they got in here."

We all got to our feet and Ratchet led the way to the storage room where we had put the frozen pod in to thaw. When we entered the room, two things caught my attention immediately. The first was that the majority of the ice that had previously covered the pod had melted and was now water covering the floor in a small puddle at its base. The second, and the most disconcerting, was that there was now a huge hole in its side that revealed a very empty interior. Ratchet inspected it the moment we approached it.

"It's a trap," Ratchet said. "A Scraplet trap."

"An empty Scraplet trap," Bulkhead said, his voice giving away his trepidation.

"Likely jettisoned into space eons ago," Ratchet said, giving the pod a look.

"Only to end up here," I said. "Where the icy temperatures of the Antarctic kept them in stasis."

"Until we brought the thaw," Jack said, stepping a bit closer.

"Now they're wide awake and ready to brunch," Miko said.

"So, how many we talking?" Raf asked.

"With a pod this size?" Ratchet said, looking inside it once again. "Hundreds, maybe even thousands."

My wings twitched. I was starting to get worried about my siblings and Arcee and Optimus as well. I tried not to think about it as we headed back out to the Ops Center. Worrying about them would get us no closer to fixing the Ground Bridge in order to bring them back to base. I shook the thoughts out of my helm as we entered the Ops Center and Ratchet went to the main console. I was not going to dwell on what could happen, rather on what was needed to be done.

"Optimus, come in," Ratchet said, trying to contact the team on the comlink. All he got was static, though, and the screens went fuzzy after a few moments. "Argh, Scraplets have gotten into the comlink system." He lightly smacked the console with a fist. "If we don't eliminate these Scraplets they will reduce the whole base to a scrap heap."

"I say we bug out and let them keep it," Bulkhead said, causing me to look at him incredulously.

"And let the others stay in Antarctica?" I asked, waving a hand at the downed Ground Bridge. "They'll freeze to death out there!" I continued waving my arm as if it would get my point of the fact I wouldn't let that happen across faster.

"Shadebreaker is right, we must get the Ground Bridge operational again," Ratchet said as I stopped waving my arm.

Miko looked briefly upset before she walked over to where she could look directly at Bulkhead. "Bulkhead! You never run!" she said.

"You haven't seen a swarm of Scraplets tear a bot apart, I have," Bulkhead said. "They take you apart and eat you, piece by piece, until there's nothing left. And I mean nothing."

"Running from a problem won't solve it," I said, shaking my helm. "It'll just create more problems." It was all I could to not think about what all would happen if we ran from this.

"Let us help!" Miko volunteered, jumping in the air once while waving an arm.

"We're not made of metal," Raf pointed out, adjusting his glasses on his face.

"Yeah, the scraplets can't hurt us," Miko said.

"Typically I find your fleshiness to be your least engaging quality," Ratchet said, his showing his thoughtfulness about the situation. "But it does seem to prove an advantage under these extremes."

"Good, we'll split up," Jack said. "I'll watch your back while you repair the Ground Bridge."

"And we'll go on a bug hunt!" Miko said excitedly.

Bulkhead groaned, but didn't protest as he and Miko disappeared to elsewhere. Raf and Bumblebee followed behind shortly after, likely headed in a different direction. This left Ratchet, Jack and I in the Ops Center and Ratchet got directly to work on the Ground Bridge. I was kneeled down across the open access panel from Ratchet and he explained to me what he was doing as he did it, giving me a lesson in Ground Bridge maintenance as he rerouted the central conduits and repaired the damaged conductors, among other things.

I focused on what he was teaching me and on the thought that he would be able to fix the Ground Bridge to keep my thoughts from straying. I knew if I didn't stay focused, I would only start worrying about my siblings and I didn't want to do that. Even focused as I was it was difficult to ignore the faint fear I felt that I wouldn't see Stormbreaker or Pathbreaker again. I just kept telling myself it was just the part of me that was paranoid talking and that I wouldn't lose them because I wouldn't let them be stuck there long enough to die. Likewise I knew Ratchet wouldn't let Optimus and Arcee stay there long enough to die. We would solve the problem and everything would be fine.

"How's it going over there?" Jack asked after a while.

Ratchet huffed. "I've repaired the damaged conductors and rerouted the central conduits, but the Ground Bridge still won't receive power," he said in frustration. His frustration was made more evident when he punched the ground with a fist.

I was about to say something, but I heard what sounded like something small and metal crawling on something metal. I looked up in time to see a group of Scraplets crawling into the Ops Center through a vent in the wall. My wings tilted upward and folded back some in a similar fashion to how they had when Miko had made me play Slender.

"Ratchet…" I said uneasily as the Scraplets looked right at the two of us.

Ratchet paused at my fear filled voice and looked up at me before following my gaze. He saw what I was looking at just as they opened their mouths and suddenly took to the sky.

"They fly?!" Jack asked, his voice panicky. "You never said they could fly!"

"Less talkin', more squishin'," I said, reaching up with both servos and slapping them together as hard as I could on a Scraplet. I felt the Scraplet crush under the pressure and felt smug for about half a second before the Scraplets were swarming around both me and Ratchet.

I squeaked and started jumping around a little as I smacked at the Scraplets attaching themselves to me. I have to say, the feeling of being eaten alive by hundreds of Scraplets was not an experience I ever wanted to have again. I had thought mosquitos were bad as a human, but this was much worse. I wasn't able to focus much on anything besides trying to get the things off me, cause I wanted them off so they would stop hurting me. It wasn't just an itchy feeling like you get from mosquitos and other bugs that bite, it was more akin to how it would feel if rats swarmed you and started eating you. Very painful.

"Die ya stinkin' bugs!" I said angrily as I stepped on a few crawling on the ground. "I ain't ya next meal!" I slapped my hand on one that was chewing on my chest plates to emphasize before going back to smacking them off me and squishing them, trying to ignore the increasing pain.

A klik or so later, I felt something cold hitting my pedes and looked down to see Jack spraying the Scraplets attached to them with a fire extinguisher. I blinked momentarily before I started knocking the Scraplets down to near wherever he happened to be spraying at the time. It took a couple more kliks before we had destroyed the whole swarm, but once we did, I dropped to my aft next to Ratchet and sighed heavily.

"Ah hate Scraplets," I said, flinching from all the warnings my systems were giving me. It was a good I had sat down, my legs were about to give out from under me anyway. I groaned as I suddenly registered the pain all over my body and silently prayed that all the Scraplets would soon be gone. "Ah hate 'em, Ah hate 'em, Ah hate 'em."

Ratchet gave me a look that told me that he very much agreed as he started to struggle back to his feet. He wasn't even half way there when the others came in.

"Ratchet, get the patch kit," Bulkhead said, walking in while holding his left arm. "We're leaking Energon like-Whoa!" He cut his own self off when he looked up.

I looked up as well and groaned slightly. Why? Just why did there have to be more?

It wasn't so easy to squish them while I was on the ground and the fact that I had even more Scraplets swarming only increased my pain and it made it hard to do anything but try to swat them off. I highly doubt we would've made it if it weren't for the human children bashing them and spraying them with the fire extinguisher. It took about ten kliks, but eventually all the Scraplets were either squished or extinguished to death.

"Ugh," I said. "Today ain't our day…" I muttered as I barely lifted my head from where I lay.

I managed to get up and into a sitting position, where I leaned against the wall with my wings folded out so I could do so as comfortably as possible when you're covered in bite marks and wounds, cattie-cornered to where Ratchet also sat leaning against the wall. Bumblebee was laying on his back, door wings flattened to allow him to lay flat, between where we were and where Bulkhead was leaning against the wall on the other side on the area where the main console was.

"You think we got all of them?" Jack asked, coming over after making sure all the present ones were dead.

As if to answer his words we heard the sound of swarming Scraplets through the vents and no one spoke until the sound disappeared.

"Hardly," Ratchet said. "These were merely scouts."

I groaned, leaning my helm against the wall. "Why? We don't deserve bein' eaten," I complained.

**.:Agreed,:.** Bumblebee whirled, lifting his helm slightly before dropping it back to the ground.

"So the rest of them know we're in here?" Bulkhead asked.

"And if we allow ourselves to become their next meal, Optimus and the others will never make it back alive," Ratchet said. "We must get the Ground Bridge back online."

"Then we could send the Scraplets anywhere," Raf said.

"Why not back to the Antarctic?" Jack asked. "We already know they don't do cold."

"Sweet," Miko said. "One-stop shopping."

"Given the body mass of the Scraplets, sub-zero temperatures should freeze them on contact," Ratchet said.

"Could there be something wrong with the fuel line?" I asked weakly from where I sat.

"There must be a breach," Ratchet nodded.

"Ugh, if we weren't breaching," Bulkhead said weakly. "One of us could get back over there and fix it."

"Where do we find it?" Jack asked.

"And how do we fix it?" Raf added, walking forward.

Ratchet gave them directions and instructions on what they would likely need to do in order to fix the problem. As he did that I was only able to focus on trying to keep the thought that we might fail out of my processor. I had lost enough friends in my life time and I was not about to lose any more of them, especially not Pathbreaker and Stormbreaker. I didn't even want to think about what would happen if I lost them. I doubted I would be able to recover from that.

"You alright over there Shade'?" Bulkhead asked from across the way.

I looked over at him weakly. "You have no idea how happy I am you spoke and brought me out of my thoughts," I said. I sighed. "We're all going to be ok, won't we?"

"You'll be fine, Shadebreaker," Ratchet said and I was vaguely aware of a hand on mine that was rested beside me.

"I'm actually more worried about you guys, my siblings, Optimus and Arcee than myself," I said. "My siblings more so. We may not really be related, but I don't think I would be able to live with myself if they don't survive. My biggest fear is to lose them."

"Well, I assure you, we will get them back here safely," Ratchet said in a determined tone.

**.:Wait, you guys aren't really related?:. **Bumblebee asked in shock from the floor.

I shook my helm weakly. "No," I said. "We might as well be though. They're the best friends I've ever had. We may come from different families, but that doesn't make them any less my siblings. They're more my family than my real family is."

"Huh, would've never guessed you three weren't really related," Bulkhead said. He turned his attention to Ratchet. "So, when we get the Ground Bridge running, do we send the creepy crawlies out? Or bring our bots in?"

"If we bring the others in first, the Scraplets will have no reason to leave," Ratchet said. "We'll need bait."

"Where're we gonna find bait?! The Scraplets have helped themselves to everything that's in here!" Bulkhead said.

I lifted a servo. "I volunteer be bait," I said. I shifted a little and grinded my dentas when pain shot through my body. "Maybe. If I can even stand." I went to try to stand, but as soon as I had my weight on both my legs, my left leg gave out and I fell back onto my aft. "I suppose not…" I said weakly.

Bulkhead was about to say something, but he was cut off by the sound of swarming. We all looked up in alarm as what appeared to be the remainder of the Scraplets started pouring into the Ops Center. They swarmed around us in circles, getting closer with every completed circle, creating a spiral of Scraplets.

"Ratchet! All systems go!" Jack's voice suddenly came from where the kids had disappeared to previously.

"Fire it up!" Miko's voice exclaimed not even a moment later.

Ratchet stood as fast as he could in his damaged state and activated the Ground Bridge before ducking back lower to the ground. I blinked blearily, seeing Bulkhead look up at the Scraplets and then over at the Ground Bridge. I could see him mutter something, but couldn't tell what it was. Before I had much time to wonder, he stood to his pedes and walked over in front of the Ground Bridge. He then started waving his good arm in the air to get the attention of the Scraplets.

"Ready for the main course?" he called to the Scraplets, gaining their attention and they all started heading for him. "Come and get it!"

I watched as Bulkhead ran through the Ground Bridge, followed by the entire army of Scraplets. It took a couple of kliks for all of the Scraplets to leave, but once they did I let out a sigh of relief. I closed my optics briefly and silently thanked God that the Scraplets were gone and that at any moment my siblings and the others would be walking back through the portal. I then paused, even as I noticed Ratchet was kneeled down next to me.

"I just thought…" I said weakly. "Freedom. Someone should make sure she's alright."

"And someone will," Ratchet said. He reached over and started helping me to my pedes. "But first, we need to get you and Bumblebee to med bay."

I stumbled slightly when we took a step, but Ratchet kept a hold of me and didn't let me fall. Just before we started to move again, the others came through the Ground Bridge. Bulkhead looked much like the rest of us who had stayed here and the others all looked mostly frozen. Pathbreaker was helping Arcee walk, though he himself looked like he was having difficulty. One look at Stormbreaker and I knew that she felt like crap, and that she was likely going to say something about the scene of Pathbreaker aiding Arcee and possibly Ratchet aiding me whenever we got time to ourselves.

About ten kliks later we were all in the med bay, including Freedom, who the kids had gone to check on. According to them, the moment they got my door open, she had sped out and came directly to med bay, where she immediately joined my siblings and I on the berth we were cuddled on. There were only three medical berths in med bay and neither Stormbreaker nor I cared to be any distance away from each other or Pathbreaker so we had ended up on the same berth against the wall. Pathbreaker was sitting against the wall with us on either side and Freedom had somehow managed to squeeze herself between myself and him. I vaguely thought to myself that it wasn't so bad being in a cuddle puddle even though we weren't cats. Freedom was the only cat, but she seemed just fine with that.

"I have no idea how she is comfortable there," Stormbreaker commented, looking at the silver feline.

"It's a cat thing," I said, chuckling some as said cat moved slightly as she stretched a single paw out from what was basically underneath my brother and myself before retracting it back in. I wasn't sure if she situated herself there because it was most comfortable or if it was because she was spooked. I wasn't about to move her even if I had had the strength, though.

The other med berths were taken up by Arcee, who lay on the one next to us, and Bumblebee, who lay on the other one. Bulkhead sat on the floor, leaning against a wall. Optimus and Ratchet sat on a small ledge against the wall opposite the one my siblings and I were using as a back rest. The children stood around Raf's laptop, which was hooked up to the medical systems so they could read all the information since Ratchet couldn't do so himself.

"Looks like it's not your last birthday after all, Pathbreaker," Arcee said, looking over at us from her med berth.

"Looks like it," Pathbreaker said, smiling slightly.

Stormbreaker caught my optic and gave me a sly look at the exchange. I knew that look well and I just responded by rolling my optics at her. She suspected something and it was unlikely that she'd let it be. My sister had a habit of sticking her nose into everything. Metaphorically speaking, since we didn't have noses anymore.

"Oh!" I suddenly said, perking up some and causing Freedom to fall down some behind me when I leaned forward a little bit. I felt her squirm a little before she climbed out of her hole and curled up in Pathbreaker's lap. "I almost forgot."

"Forgot what?" Stormbreaker asked.

"Don't tell me you forgot," I gave Stormbreaker a flat look. I shook my helm at her sheepish look and then reached into my subspace and took out a small box. "We got this for your birthday at BotCon…not sure how much good it will do now, but yeah." I handed the box to Pathbreaker and he took it and looked at it.

"An Xbox headset with the Autobot insignia," Pathbreaker observed, turning the box over. It was so tiny compared to his large servos.

"It was supposed to replace your crappy headset," Stormbreaker said.

"Of course, that was before we ended up in an alternate reality and became Cybertronian," I said. "Sorry it couldn't be something that would still be useful." And I really did feel sorry about that. If I had known this would happen, we would've gotten something more appropriate. Not that I knew what that would've been.

"It's the thought that counts and it's not like this could've been predicted," Pathbreaker said, subspacing the headset. He wrapped his arms around both of us and gave us a small hug. "Thanks you two."

"You're welcome," Stormbreaker and I said at the same time.

Our attention was grabbed when Miko suddenly screamed loudly.

"What is it? Scraplet?" Jack asked, him and Raf already pulling out their choice weapons and holding them threateningly.

"SPIDER!" Miko nearly shrieked. "Is it on me? Ahh!" She then proceed to jump around, screaming and acting like she was trying to knock something off.

My attention turned to the floor and it didn't take long for my optics to find the spider. It was about the size of a penny, which was not very big at all. It was also brown in color, but I wasn't sure what breed of spider it was. I didn't like spiders either, but I was pretty sure this one was too small to hurt a human, unless its mouth was bigger than it looked.

"Oh for cryin' out loud," Pathbreaker said, sounding rather irritated. He activated his Scatter Blaster and shot the tiny little spider that was crawling on the floor. "It's dead, calm down."

Miko peered into the small crater created by my brother's weapon as he deactivated it. "Are you sure it's dead?" she asked.

"No Miko, it's not dead. He only destroyed a leg and it's crawling out of the small crater in the floor as we speak," I said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I have a phobia of spiders, ok?" Miko defended herself.

"And I have getting-shot-at-itis," Pathbreaker rebutted.

"AND I HAVE A HOLE IN MY FLOOR!" Ratchet yelled, throwing a wrench in my brother's direction.

The wrench failed to hit its target though, because I reflexively reached out and caught it when it was still a few inches from my brother's helm. I ignored the stares I received as I calmly set the wrench aside.

"And we shall fix said hole later," I said calmly.

It was several hours before we were actually able to do so, however, because it took some time for everyone to defrost and heal from being eaten. Once we were though, I calmly returned the wrench to Ratchet, who still looked surprised I had caught his wrench mid-air, and then aided my brother in fixing the hole in the floor.

I wasn't too concerned about the whole catching the wrench thing. It was just reflex for me to catch things flying toward someone's head. It was something that developed through middle and high school whenever we played dodge ball in gym. People seemed to like throwing things at my face for a while. At least until I started catching them. People aimed more for my shoulders after that, because they knew I'd also catch something headed toward my stomach. I never picked up the skill to catch something near my shoulder though. And when my siblings asked about it, that's exactly what I told them.

"That, and you are my siblings," I said. "I would interfere with anything flying toward your helms."

"And we'll interfere with anything flying toward your helm," Stormbreaker said. "We're the Breakers, we look out for each other."

"Yes we will," Pathbreaker said, nodding in agreement.

"And I wouldn't have it any other way," I said, hugging both my siblings.

**The credit song for this chapter is…nevermind…I can't seem to find a song that fits this chapter. But I WILL start with credit songs next chapter. **

**I did find this song though, www .youtube watch?v=CnazuajjGr0 , that almost sort of kind of maybe fits that last line of the chapter, but not enough for me to really believe it is a true credit song. It is called "Wouldn't Change a Thing" and is by Matthew West. It kind of goes with the "And I wouldn't have it any other way." line…It's just the rest of the song that only make its kind of sort of maybe fit. XD**


	7. Conned by a Con

**A/N: **Would you look at this, an update! :D About time, huh? Sorry it took me so long. I have other stories to write, a job to do and I also had several days in which my muse would not let me write. :| But hey, I am done with it now! That is good, right? Hopefully the wait was worth it. Don't forget to look for the credit song at the end! :)

Thanks go to Sci-Fifan95 for betaing this chapter. Also I have a request for you all. If any of you read his story, Fate Calls, please review his chapters when you read them. It would mean a lot to me if you gave him feedback on his story. Please and thank you!

**Scripture of the Update:**

"_The wicked is banished in his wickedness, but the righteous has a refuge in his death." ~Proverbs 14:32_

**Author's Replies:**

**Magical Princess: **Glad you like it. ^.^ Ah, I see. I will do my best to. :)

**Sci-Fifan95: **Yes, yes she is. Lol. Nice to know I'm funny when I'm freaking out. Lol. I could say something, but I won't. ;P I am glad you liked it bro. :)

**Jayna Prime: **I am happy you are smiling on the inside. :) Glad you love it. :D

**Autobot-Blurr221: **Thanks! Glad you liked it! :D

**TransfanFreak101: **Thanks! Lol. That's cool. I've been a fan for years, but yeah. Lol. :)

**D.D. Natanya: **A new reader! :D I am glad you like it so far and hope you enjoy the ride. :)

**KayleeChiara: **You've never played Slender, have you? Lol. Glad you liked it. :)

**Screamer's girl: **That game is NOT funny. That was cruel of you. :| Glad you liked it though.

**Luna Uchiha666: **Glad you liked it! :D

**smoshaholic: **Be patient. Lol.

**Autobot Shadowstalker: **Lol. Glad you liked it. :)

**Chapter 7: Conned by a Con**

_~Sunday, May 13, 2012~_

"Aww I died," Miko said, dropping the Xbox controller on her lap as she stared at the tv screen.

I laughed. "Congratulations, Miko, you pulled a Megatron and died," I said, grinning.

"Even funnier because she is playing as a 'Con," Pathbreaker said.

"I don't get it when you guys say…oh," Raf was saying, but stopped himself when he watched Megatron jump down and kill himself.

"Megatron just…killed himself…." Jack said as the bots all stared at the screen in something between shock and amusement.

"Yup! He did that a lot when Path' and I were playing through this part," I said. "And then Storm' got the game and joined us and I got stuck playing as him." I stuck my tongue out, making a displeased face. "I hate his fusion cannon, it sucks. I rarely ever hit the target. Which was annoying, not that I complained, I hated playing the 'Con half…"

What was going on here was that the children were playing through War for Cybertron, which we had found among our stuff. I had forgotten we had brought it on our trip to BotCon with us, but we apparently did. When we mentioned it, the 'Bots got curious about it and the children wanted to play it. So the children were on the human sized couch with the rest of us behind and around them. Bumblebee, Stormbreaker, Arcee and myself were on the couch and Pathbreaker and Bulkhead sat in the big beanbag chairs while Ratchet and Optimus stood and watched.

"I hate this half too," Jack and Miko said at the same time and then looked at each other and laughed a bit.

"The 'Cons are twisted," Miko observed.

"Indeed they are," Pathbreaker said.

"There are some inconsistencies between the books and the game," I noted. "Like Starscream. In the books he was already a Decepticon when Megatron learned about the space station and the Dark Energon."

"Wait, you knew about Dark Energon?" Arcee asked.

"Kind of," I said.

"The bringing bots back as zombies is new though," Pathbreaker said. "That happens in neither the books nor the game."

"I know nothing about the books, so don't look at me," Stormbreaker said, holding her hands up.

I tapped my fingers as Miko paused the game and turned to look at us. "I only knew the effects of using it on a bot that is still alive," I said. "And if the books are right, you guys already know that."

Optimus nodded. "Megatron used it on some of his soldiers in the waning days of the war," he said.

Pathbreaker and I nodded. "Thought so," we both said.

"Jinx," Stormbreaker said.

"I don't owe you a soda," Pathbreaker said. "What are you saying it for anyway?"

Stormbreaker grinned. "I wanted to," she said.

I grinned slightly before we turned our attention back to the game. Miko was just about to go down to meet Brawl when an alarm sounding interrupted us. Ratchet was the first to leave the Rec Room, even as Miko paused the game to turn it off. Optimus followed as the rest of us stood from our seats and then we all filed out of the Rec Room and made our way to the Ops Center.

My siblings and I took up the rear when we made it to the Ops Center and when we walked in, Ratchet was already at the main computer. It turned out that we were being hailed by an unknown Cybertronian ship and Ratchet pressed some buttons and opened the comm. channel.

"_Unknown vessel, this is Autobot Outpost Omega-1," _Optimus spoke in our native language, since whoever was onboard wouldn't know English. _"Identify yourself."_

"_I've had warmer welcomes from Decepticons," _the bot on the other end said.

"_Springer?!" _ Bulkhead exclaimed.

Out of the corner of my optic I saw Arcee grow stiff and I had a feeling she was not a very big fan of whoever this bot was from the look in her optics that said she was holding back a groan. I sent her a brief, concerned look before focusing on the conversation when she waved a hand in dismissal at me.

"_Bulkhead? That you?" _the bot, apparently Springer, on the other end asked._ "What's with all the security?"_

"_The rock we're on is crawling with 'Cons," _Bulkhead replied. _"How soon can you get here?"_

"_I should make it planet-side in two breems,"_ Springer replied.

"_We will send you coordinates for a landing zone," _Optimus told him. _"We will bridge you to base from there."_

"_Understood, Prime," _Springer replied before the transmission ended.

"What just happened?" Miko asked, having not understood a single word from the whole conversation.

"Somebot named Springer is coming in approximately three hours and twenty minutes," I explained. "Bulkhead knows him, whoever he is."

"Springer and I served in the same unit back in the war," Bulkhead explained. "The Wreckers. And now that he's here, the 'Cons won't stand a chance."

"Sweet!" Miko said excitedly.

"In the meantime, you all are dismissed," Optimus said. "Meet back here in approximately three hours."

"I want to play some more of that game!" Miko said. "I can't wait to reach the Autobot half!"

Pathbreaker chuckled a bit. "I am going to be in my workshop if anyone needs me," he said. "I have an idea I want to work on."

"Okey dokey," Stormbreaker said.

As Pathbreaker went to his workshop, Stormbreaker, Bumblebee, Arcee and I went back to the Rec Room with Jack, Raf and Miko. Bulkhead, Ratchet and Optimus remained in the Ops Center.

In the Rec Room we all took our seats and Jack picked up where Miko left off. It was during the spot where Zeta Prime was telling Megatron his efforts were futile when Arcee spoke.

"Wait," Arcee said. "Sentinel Prime was captured and thought dead at the beginning of the war. And Optimus was made Prime. What's with this Zeta guy?"

"Zeta is Sentinel," I replied. I shrugged. "I consider the games a different continuity from the books. I don't know about the cartoon, with how little I saw of it. Hasbro's fix for the former Prime's name is that they made Sentinel his middle name in the game. I didn't know Cybertronians had middle names."

"We don't," Arcee said.

"Ah," I said.

We continued watching the kids play the game for the remainder of the time until we had to meet back up in the Ops Center. They took turns after every level and made it to the third Autobot level before it was time to go back to the Ops Center. They died a lot and made a lot of questions on if something was accurate or not.

When we went back to the Ops Center, Pathbreaker had already returned and they were all gathered around the monitor. When we joined them, we saw a couple blimps on the monitor. One was nearing the coordinates Optimus had supplied Springer and another was nearing somewhere in the Himalayas.

"We've detected a second Cybertronian incoming," Ratchet said once we were all crowded around. "They're coming in for an emergency landing and not answering my attempts to contact them, something must be wrong…"

"Autobot or Decepticon?" I asked. "Cause a Decepticon probably wouldn't answer…"

"Autobot," Ratchet said. "We know that much because all Autobots have a small connection to the Prime, identifying them as one of us. It is the weakest bond possible, but it's there nonetheless."

"So Optimus can feel that it's an Autobot?" Pathbreaker asked.

Optimus nodded, replying instead of Ratchet. "It is a bond I have with everybot under my command," he said. "Even you three, despite you only coming under my command recently. It is not enough that I could feel emotions or pain, however."

We nodded in understanding and I looked to the screen. "So we should go for this other bot, shouldn't we?" I asked, ignoring the questions running through my processor for now.

"Indeed," Optimus agreed. "That is what I wish you and your siblings to do while we handle picking up Springer."

"Yes sir," I said.

"Of course," Pathbreaker replied.

"Gotcha!" Stormbreaker said.

The three of us had actually replied at the exact same time and Stormbreaker and I gave salutes as Pathbreaker merely nodded. Ratchet was already inputting the coordinates into the Ground Bridge for the Himalayas as Optimus told him to send us out first. As the Ground Bridge powered up the three of us moved on front of it.

"Good luck," Arcee told us and we nodded our thanks before disappearing into the Ground Bridge.

When we stepped out of the Ground Bridge, I shivered, feeling the cold air of the Himalayas hit me. Looking around all I could see was snow and mountains. And more snow. Thankfully it wasn't as cold as the Antarctic had been when we had been there, but it was still cold. Not cold enough to really freeze anything though, so we were safe.

"Why do our missions keep being cold?" Stormbreaker asked.

"Because the universe thinks we should be cold," I stated flatly, unamused that we keep getting cold missions, as I looked around.

"Hey, is that our Autobot we're here for?" Stormbreaker asked and pointed.

Shooting across the sky, headed for just beyond the mountain directly in front of us, was what looked like a meteor at first glance. But, having watched the first Transformers movie so many times, the three of us good tell easily what it really was. I could see the faintest glimpse of metal underneath the fire surrounding the meteor-looking object headed for the ground.

"It appears so," Pathbreaker said.

"Shall we go retrieve them, then?" I asked.

He nodded and without another word, the three of us transformed into our alt modes and started flying over, our sensors on alert for any Decepticons that may come our way. It wasn't a far flight, so we didn't zoom at full speed.

"Did anyone else take note of how Arcee became tense when she found out Springer was on his way to Earth?" Pathbreaker asked.

"I noticed it too," I said.

"Same," Stormbreaker replied. "Wonder why that is."

"I suppose we'll find out," I noted. "I mean, it's gotta be something we'll notice to have Arcee of all bots to tense at just his name."

"Indeed," Pathbreaker agreed. "For now let's just focus on helping our fellow Autobot."

We silently agreed upon that as we picked up speed a bit, going around the mountain. We flew above the ground, looking for signs of where our wayward bot might've landed precisely. It didn't take long to find the evidence of a bot landing. A wide line of snow had been melted and there were a few random pieces of something on fire laying around the path, the fires slowly dying in the snow as it melted and covered the pieces in water. At the end of the trail, just getting out of a transformation and looking toward us, was what we had come here for.

"Is that Wheeljack?" Stormbreaker asked.

"Looks like it, come on," I said.

As we slowed our speed and came closer to the ground and the bot, said bot aimed a shoulder mounted cannon our way. He fired at us and we scattered to avoid the shot.

"Whoa! Easy dude! We're on your side!" I called out.

"The only Autobot flyers I know are the Aerialbots and Jetfire," he said, bringing his shoulder cannon around to target me.

"Oi! It's true!" Stormbreaker said, transforming as she landed on the ground. She shifted her wing and pointed to her insignia. "See?"

The bot, who I was pretty sure was Wheeljack, turned his attention to Stormbreaker and I landed, transforming as well, and walked up next to her, making sure my insignia was in sight as well. Pathbreaker came up behind us in his bipedal mode. When he saw our insignias, he lowered his cannon, but didn't put it away.

The bot was about the same height as Ratchet and was mostly white in color. He has orange and green stripes on his chest along with some orange and green on other parts as well. His face was covered with a battle mask, except for his optics, which glowed a bright blue. On the sides of his helm were fin-like things that lit up when he spoke. He had wing-like appendages on his back, though it was clear they were for decoration. On his chest was the Autobot insignia, gleaming proudly. He looked pretty much the same as the Wheeljack I knew from watching the old Generation One series.

"If you three are Autobots, then maybe you can help me," he said.

"That's actually why we're here," I said, walking forward to meet him half way from where he had been.

"Optimus sent us to get you," Pathbreaker said as he and Stormbreaker joined us.

"Well, that's perfect then!" he said, the fins on his helm glowing blue. "I came here following a message sent out by the Prime. Name's Wheeljack." He introduced himself, confirming my thoughts that he was the renowned inventor.

"Shadebreaker, and these are my siblings," I replied.

"I am Pathbreaker," my brother said.

"Stormbreaker," my sister introduced herself.

"Nice to meet you," Wheeljack said, his fins lighting up again.

After we introduced ourselves to Wheeljack, I brought a servo up to my helm and opened a comm-link with the base. **"Shadebreaker to base, we found Wheeljack and are in need to a Ground Bridge."**

There was an audible sigh from the other end of the link. **"Opening the Ground Bridge now."** Ratchet's voice said, sounding more annoyed than usual, and then the link was closed with that.

"Is it just me, or did Ratchet sound more gruff than normal?" Stormbreaker asked.

I nodded absently. "Yeah, he did," I said, optic ridges coming together as I thought. There were a couple things I could think of that could be why, but I couldn't tell you which one it was. "I wonder why."

My brother's optics narrowed slightly. "I suspect I know why," he said, glancing over at the Ground Bridge as it opened. "But the only way we will know is if we return to base."

I nodded. "Well, let's go then, shall we?" I asked. And with that, the four and us stepped through the Ground Bridge.

Once we were through the Ground Bridge there was a whining noise and the Ground Bridge died with a few clunks that I was pretty positive weren't supposed to happen. I glanced over at the controls to see Ratchet smack the controls and couldn't help but chuckle, because I had done that so many times to things not working like they were supposed to.

My attention was brought away from that though as I saw something flying through the air out of the corner of my optic. I turned to look at the object to see Bulkhead and a lighter green mech throwing a ball of scrap metal back and forth. Miko was playing her guitar while Raf did the robot with Bumblebee. Optimus appeared to have left.

I raised an optic ridge before walking with Wheeljack over to Ratchet, keeping an optic on the flying scrap ball in case I had to duck. My siblings went over to join Arcee and Jack by the sidelines.

"You know, I've never had whacking things work to actually fix anything before," I noted as I walked up to Ratchet as he pounded the controls again.

He sighed and gave me an annoyed look, though I knew he was annoyed at the problems and not me. "It gets my frustration out," he huffed a bit.

I laughed a bit. "True," I agreed.

"Heya, doc," Wheeljack said happily, his fins lighting up.

"Hello, Wheeljack," Ratchet said before pressing some buttons on the Ground Bridge controls. He growled when a few sparks flew. "Slaggit."

"What's wrong with the Ground Bridge?" Wheeljack asked, looking at the readouts.

"It hasn't been the same since the scraplet infestation," Ratchet said.

"There's a way to fix it, though, right?" I asked. "So it works like it is supposed to."

"Of course," Ratchet said. He looked up and his optics widened before he ducked, pulling me down with him as Wheeljack ducked as well.

"Wha…?" I started to ask, but cut myself off when I saw the ball of scrap slam into the wall, leaving a very small dent and then fall to the ground, nicking the Ground Bridge controls on the way. I blinked at it as Ratchet stood back up and started yelling at Bulkhead and Springer.

"You know, I am trying to perform sensitive calibrations here!" he said, gesturing to the controls as I tentatively stood back up myself.

Springer walked over and picked up the ball of scrap metal. He looked at Ratchet. Something in his optics made me feel uneasy.

"You built this yourself?" he asked.

"Mhm," Ratchet replied, pressing some buttons and I watched as the system shut down and started a defrag.

"That's quite a feat of engineering," Springer said. "What's wrong with it?" 

I noticed Wheeljack giving Springer a weird look and sent him a curious glance. He just shook his helm at me and I blinked.

"Yes it is," Ratchet said, clearly distracted by working on the Ground Bridge.

"Something wrong with it?" Springer asked and he had that look in his optics that made me feel uneasy again. He was up to something, and I had a feeling it wasn't going to be something any of us liked.

It was just a feeling, mind you.

"I didn't like the way it sounded on that last jump," Ratchet said. "I put it in shut down."

"What if you need to use it," Springer asked.

"Oh, I can't disrupt the defrag progress without causing irreparable damage," Ratchet said.

"So, how long will it take?" Springer asked.

"A few hours, if we're lucky," Ratchet said, glancing at Springer for a moment. "Maybe longer."

"Huh," Springer said before walking away.

"Is it just me, or does something seem off?" I asked quietly from my spot next to Wheeljack.

"I'll say there is," Wheeljack said. "Springer gave Ratchet a compliment."

"Is that odd?" I asked.

"The only bots he ever gives compliments to are his fellow Wreckers and femmes," Ratchet said. "So, yes, it is odd."

My wings twitched a bit. And I narrowed my optics over at Springer, who was now standing with Bulkhead and the others as Bulkhead told a story about a battle. I noticed Arcee was gone now and so was Stormbreaker and I wondered where they had gone. Something about Springer was just screaming at me that something was wrong, very wrong. Not in a this mech is creepy kind of way, but in a this mech is evil kind.

"Are you alright, Shadebreaker?" Wheeljack asked, waving a hand in my face.

"Huh? What?" I asked, blinking and looking at him.

"I asked if you are alright," Wheeljack said and Ratchet turned to look at me. "You spaced out."

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said, my expression a bit troubled. "Just thinking…I'm gonna go find my sister."

"You sure you're alright?" Ratchet asked, looking at me in concern.

"I am," I said. "I just have a bad feeling about something." I glanced at Springer before shaking my helm. "I could be wrong. Anyway, I am off to find my sister. I will talk to you both later."

Before either could say anything, I turned and walked out of the Ops Center. I could feel the optics watching me retreat, but ignored the feeling and turned down a hallway. I wondered around base until I eventually found Stormbreaker and Arcee in the Rec Room, sitting on the couch and talking.

What're you two doing in here?" I asked. "The party's out there." I pointed back toward the Ops Center.

"I needed to get away from Springer," Arcee said.

"Ah," I said. "How come?" I asked, pulling over a beanbag chair and sitting in it.

"He's a sleazy no good aft," Stormbreaker said with a bit of a growl.

"Oh?" I asked. Clearly they had had a discussion before I got here about this, but since I didn't know, it would need to be explained again.

"Every time I have seen him before, he has hit on me with rather crude comments," Arcee said. "No matter how many times I have said no, he doesn't get the hint."

"Hm," I said, crossing my servos in front of my chest. "I'll make him get the hint if I have to. You are my friend, I will not take you dealing with that."

Arcee chuckled and shook her helm. "Strange thing is, he's not even said a word to me since we picked him up from the landing location," she says.

I tilted my helm. "He gave Ratchet a compliment and Wheeljack said that is also abnormal for him…" I said.

Arcee looked stunned. "That is abnormal," she said. "I've not heard him give anybot a compliment before unless he was hitting on a femme or it was a fellow Wrecker."

"Hmm," Stormbreaker said. "Maybe he is not really Springer."

"What do you mean?" Arcee asked.

"Maybe somebot is masquerading as him," Stormbreaker said.

"There was a shape-shifter in the books who could make himself look like anybot," I said thoughtfully. "He masqueraded as Hound."

"We should keep an optic on him then," Arcee said. "As much as I don't like Springer, I'd rather not have a spy among us."

"Indeed," I agreed and then stood to my pedes. "I am going back to the Ops Center."

"We'll come too," Arcee said. "We need to inform the others."

Stormbreaker nodded and then the three of us headed back to the Ops Center to check on things and tell the others of our suspicions. When we got there, Ratchet was still working at the Ground Bridge controls and Wheeljack was with the others, apparently discussing something. Optimus still wasn't back from wherever he had gone and Springer and Miko were absent.

"I'm telling you, something just ain't right with Springer," Bulkhead was saying. "He's too quiet."

"Somebots do change," Wheeljack said.

"Not Springer," Bulkhead said, shaking his helm.

I shared a look with my siblings and we all nodded before Pathbreaker left the room, likely having an idea of what to do. As Stormbreaker and Arcee joined the others in speaking about why Bulkhead thought something was off, I walked over to where Ratchet was still working on the Ground Bridge.

"How's the Bridge?" I asked.

Ratchet huffed. "Still in the defragging process," he said. "Other than that, I do believe I have gotten everything fixed." He said looking at me. "What had you looking so worried earlier?" he asked after a moment.

I glanced over at the others. "You heard Bulkhead mention something being off with Springer, right?" I asked and he nodded. "Earlier you and Wheeljack found it was odd he gave you a compliment. Arcee has also said she noticed something strange. I just think Springer might not be Springer."

"Hm," Ratchet said. "We don't have any solid evidence yet though. We will keep an optic on him."

I nodded as he turned back to the controls as the defrag slowly made more progress toward being completed. From the looks of it, it was almost finished. I tuned back into the others. I glanced up and saw Pathbreaker up on the rafters above the Ground Bridge and he waved before putting a finger to his mouthplates in a "shh" gesture.

"Look, I know Springer better than anyone," Bulkhead said.

"Hey, what you guys talking about?" Springer asked as he entered.

"I was just telling the guys about you and me, at the battle of Dark Mount Pass," Bulkhead said, sounding very convincing despite the fact that the topic had never come up.

Stormbreaker sent me a confused look and I returned it with a shrug and a look that said "Wait and see".

"That's a heck of a story," Springer said, smirking a bit.

"Yup," Bulkhead said. "Tell it." He stared challengingly at Springer.

"How about after we go offroading?" Miko asked.

"Miko, stay out of this," Bulkhead said.

"I'm not sure I follow," Springer said, looking confused, though I could detect some worry in his optics.

"Tell it!" Bulkhead demanded.

"Fine! You want to live in the past, Bulkhead?" Springer said. "The Wreckers were trapped between a Decepticon patrol and the smelting pit. The 'Cons were vicious, bearing down on us with everything they had." He explained, making gestures with his hands to emphasize.

"Me and Bulkhead engaged the enemy, left them for scrap," he continued. "Then I made us a way out, using their backsides as stepping stones across the molten metal. Ain't that how it happened?" He asked, looking up at Bulkhead.

"Yeah, that's exactly how it happened," Bulkhead said, his optics saying he had just confirmed something.

Springer looked relieved, at least until Bulkhead continued.

"Except for one little thing," Bulkhead said and glared darkly at "Springer". "I wasn't there."

Ratchet looked up and looked slightly surprised before he and I shared a look. I shifted, preparing for a fight. "Springer" looked furious.

"I'd already left the Wreckers to join up with Optimus," Bulkhead said and then pointed angrily at "Springer". "But you wouldn't know that if all you did was access Springer's public service record."

"Bulkhead," Miko said, her tone saying clearly that she didn't understand what was happening. "What does that…whoa!" She cut off as "Springer" grabbed her rushed over, shoving me and Ratchet out of the way to get at the controls for the Bridge.

"Miko!" Bulkhead called.

"Stay back! Or I'll squeeze her into pulp!" "Springer" said, his voice different now that his cover was blown.

I moved to try to get Miko, but "Springer" turned and glared at me, causing me to raise my hands as if in surrender. Ratchet tried to take advantage of his slight distraction with me to try to reach her, but "Springer" shoved him toward me and I had to catch him before he fell from the force. I stumbled back a bit, but was able to keep us both on our feet.

"Decepticon coward!" Bulkhead said. "Let the girl go and face me!" He growled out.

"Don't fret, plenty of fighting to come," "Springer" said darkly, an evil smirk on his face that made me shiver.

"Is there a real Springer?!" Jack asked, panic in his voice.

"Oh indeed," "Springer" said. "And I suspect Lord Starscream is making sport of him."

Bulkhead's optics widened a bit before his expression became a dark glare again.

"Springer" typed on the Ground Bridge controls and the defrag process suddenly sped up a bit before completing. He then pulled the lever and opened the Ground Bridge, Ratchet watching with wide optics as I prepared myself for battle. "Springer" then moved right in front of the Bridge and was about to say something before Pathbreaker jumped down on him, causing him to drop Miko, who was caught by Bulkhead.

"Springer" growled and the two ended up in a struggle on the ground, my brother landing more punches than the 'Con. "Springer" eventually managed to shove my brother off of him long enough to stand up. Nearly directly after he stood up, however, before my brother had a chance to aim the weapon he had just deployed, a light green mech looking exactly like the imposter came through the Ground Bridge, kicking the imposter in the back and making him fly past my brother and crash into the wall next to the Ground Bridge controls.

"I'd shut the Bridge off, if I were you," the mech, who was obviously the real Springer, said.

Ratchet wasted no time in shutting the Ground Bridge down.

Springer's imposter stood and growled, taking out a couple swords as the real Springer did the same and they started circling each other. Bulkhead slammed his fists together and started toward the imposter, but Springer held an arm out to stop him.

"Ugly's mine," he said.

"He realizes he currently looks exactly like him and he just called himself ugly, right?" I whispered to Ratchet in slight amusement.

Ratchet just grunted in response and shook his helm.

As we all watched from the sidelines, the two look-alikes partook in a flurry of sword clashes. The humans lost track of which one was the real Springer easily, but it was easy for my Cybertronian optics to keep track of who was who. It also didn't hurt that it was clear that the real Springer was trying to be a bit of a show off and I saw him wink at Arcee once, which made her optic twitch and Pathbreaker to glare slightly.

Eventually the real Springer kneed the fake one in the face and made him drop both swords with a couple well placed blows before knocking him to the ground with a kick to the chest. He put his swords up after that and looked at Ratchet.

"You, hit the switch," Springer said in a disrespectful tone.

Ratchet grumbled as he did so as I glared at Springer for using a disrespectful tone toward my friend and teacher. Springer caught my glare and glared right back, looking me up and down before apparently deciding I wasn't worth his time and looking to Bulkhead.

"All yours buddy," he said.

Once the Ground Bridge was open, Bulkhead picked up the barely conscious imposter and then lobbed him through the Ground Bridge. Once that was done, Springer walked over to Arcee and draped an arm over her shoulders.

"Pretty impressive the way I took down that imposter, huh?" he asked.

"Shove it up your tailpipe, Springer," Arcee said, ducking out from below his arm and walking away.

"She's so hot," Springer said and I got the impression drool should've been running down his chin.

I narrowed my optics and Stormbreaker was about to growl something at him before Bulkhead suddenly was leading Springer away in the opposite direction of Arcee. Springer glanced at Stormbreaker as he passed her and I did not like the look in his optics when he did. I glanced at Ratchet.

"I have come to a decision I don't like the real Springer," I told him.

Ratchet grunted in agreement before turning to the control panel. "Meet me in the med bay in a hour, you still need your training session for the day," he said.

I nodded to acknowledge his words.

Out of the corner of my vision, I saw Pathbreaker's optic twitch, and his faceplate went blank. I had seen the look before, it was when he was _very_ angry, but was putting on a stoic look to keep himself from acting rashly.

Pathbreaker put his servos behind his backplates and walked up to Springer when Springer backed away a bit from Bulkhead, who looked at Pathbreaker questiongly. I thought he was going to say something, but he didn't, he just stood there and stared at Springer. His faceplate might have been blank, but his optics were smoldering with enough anger to pierce steel. And the fact he was more than a helm taller and over twice as broad as Springer added onto the look in his optics.

"So you are Springer," my brother finally said, voice as blank as the look on his faceplate, but still managing to sound more intimidating than his normal tone.

"Yeah, I am," Springer replied, nervously shifting on his pedes so slightly that I thought it was a trick of the light.

Pathbreaker seemed to notice him shift nervously, but made no comment about it. "I see," he said, continuing to hold Springer's gaze. "I think I'm going to go to the Rec Room, I've had enough excitement for one cycle, and I am sure my sisters have had enough as well." He added, telling Springer that Storm' and I were his sisters without actually telling him.

To my audio receptors, my brother's words had a double meaning, "stay away from my sisters."

After staring at Springer for another moment, my brother simply turned and walked in the direction Arcee had gone.

I blinked after him for a moment before walking after him with Stormbreaker, with her glaring darkly at Springer as we left.

"I don't like him," Stormbreaker growled once we were out of earshot of the other bots.

"I'll be surprised if anybot does," I told her. "Except for Bulkhead, but I think even he doesn't like his attitude toward femmes."

"Well he better stay away from Arcee and you or, or…ugh!" Stormbreaker growled as we neared the Rec Room.

"If he tries anything, I will kick his aft," I said in a tone that said 'simple as that'.

"Not if I do first," she said.

"Our brother will probably actually beat us both to it," I noted. "Now how about we don't think about it?" I suggested as we walked into the Rec Room only to discover neither our brother nor Arcee were there.

"Hey, where'd they go?" Stormbreaker asked.

"Possibly his workshop," I said. "It is a good place to get away from the others at."

"Yeah," Stormbreaker said and walked back out of the Rec Room. "Come on then. I think I want to get away as well."

"Hm," I agreed and followed her down the hall and back to the ground floor.

Luckily our walk didn't have us cross paths with Springer and it wasn't long before we were walking into Pathbreaker's workshop. He and Arcee were in there and our brother was assuring Arcee that she was welcome to come in here whenever she had to get away from Springer. As Stormbreaker walked over and joined them, I took a moment to actually look around his workshop as I hadn't actually seen it since he had been in the process of setting it up.

Along three of the four walls there were racks that had been filled up with a variety of weapons gathered from the armory, which contained a lot of weapons. I recognized a couple Path Blasters hanging on the wall and a Riot Cannon. There were other guns, some of which I recognized and some I didn't. I saw a few Thermo Rocket Launchers and some grenades as well. It would probably take awhile to go through the list of every weapon that literally covered those three walls.

The fourth wall was covered in storage panels that contained several kinds of things the bots had allowed Pathbreaker to have access to. There were several samples of the common metals and elements found on Earth and also samples of the rarer metals and elements. I also saw one or two that were probably brought with the Bots from Cybertron. Several of the panels also held blueprints that were likely for weapons or other random pieces of technology.

There was a workbench set up that faced the door to the room and tools laid around on top of it along with a Path Blaster that seemed to be in the process of being worked on. I wasn't sure if he was fixing it or upgrading it, but I figured that when he was done he might be using it instead of one of his current weapons. The Path Blaster was one of our favorite weapons from the sequel to War for Cybertron that we had seen in the demo for it.

In front of the workbench, facing the opposite way, was a slab-like table with controls on the top of it. It seemed to be powered down right now, but it looked like that it was similar to the table in the Ironman movies where Stark could create and edit blueprints using a holographic interface. I thought for a moment that something like that would've been awesome to have back home, but then I'd probably have been so distracted by it at the time that nothing got done.

After taking in the sparse chairs, there were only three in there, I walked over and joined my siblings and Arcee by the workbench where they were talking. They were talking about things that were missed from being human.

"I miss hot chocolate," I put in for the sake of being part of the conversation. "And fruit smoothies. I used to make awesome fruit smoothies."

"That sounds so good," Stormbreaker said, looking like she wanted to try said fruit smoothies.

"I wouldn't have any idea how those tasted," Arcee said.

"They tasted so good," I said, smiling and I was sure my expression was one of longing. I hadn't had one in so long even before becoming Cybertronian.

We continued on, each talking about different things we missed from our lives before. Arcee told us about her sisters and a few things from Cybertron that she had enjoyed, but hadn't been able to since leaving the planet. We told her a bit about our families, the good parts anyway though Pathbreaker had more good parts than Stormbreaker and I, and about other things we had enjoyed. I told her about my first trip to an amusement park and about some of the random things that happened while on my math tutoring job. My siblings likewise shared stories from their lives that weren't necessarily known by all three of us.

All in all, the remainder of the day was pretty good, even when I had to leave them to their conversation to meet Ratchet for my next medic lesson.

**And the credit song is…The Pretender by Foo Fighters www .youtube watch?v=-NBHS3FtQ20**

**I couldn't find a song I knew that fit so I asked Sci and that is the song he suggested and I thought it fit quite nicely, because it fits with Makeshift pretending to be Springer.**


	8. Scouting

**A/N:** Ah! Finally! An update! Thank you all for being so patient with me. I am so very sorry it took me this long to get an update for this story. But it is finally here and thank you those of you who have stuck with me since the beginning even during these slumps. :D

This chapter is over eight thousand words long so I hope it makes up for the delay.

Anyways, enjoy.

**Dictionary:**

1 Mechanos = 10 Feet

The rest of the terms I used, I believe are self-explanatory.

**Chapter 8: Scouting**

_~Wednesday, May 16, 2012~_

I stared for a moment at the simulated patient in the simulation Ratchet had me going through in the simulator. It turned out that battles were not the only things the simulator could, well, simulate. Ratchet was making good use of it now to test my knowledge of what he had taught me.

I only stared for a micro-klik before administering the proper amount of anesthetic to the mech near the wounded area. It was a minor wound, something easily fixed, but the mech was simulated in an unconscious state, simulating if we had given him a sedative. In a real life situation, we wouldn't have put the mech under, but Ratchet was just testing my knowledge of the procedure, though he gave me a mild look of approval when I had asked him why the mech was out of it when he had such a minor injury.

After waiting a klik for the anesthetic to kick in, I began work on fixing the wound. It took merely a replacement of one wire and reconnection of another and some salve-like substance to complete my job. The salve would work with the mech's nanites to fully repair his knee joint.

"Good," Ratchet said. "Now let's try something harder."

I nodded and watched as the current simulation disappeared before my optics, only to be replaced with a new scene. This one started with an empty med bay, only I was present. Shortly enough though, a mech was carried in by two other mechs. The conscious mechs called to make sure they had my attention.

"Get him on the berth," I ordered, pointing to the berth closest to the door.

The simulator was a very similar concept to the holodeck on a starship in the show Star Trek. It used our holoform technology and integrated it into a series of complicated holoform projections. Just as the programs on the holodeck, these programs were also interactive. Everything that formed from the simulator had to be programmed in by somebot before it could be used, but the program was never lost unless it was deleted. It stayed in the memory banks and could be accessed by anybot who wanted to access it.

When Ratchet started teaching me, he started working on programs to use to aid in my learning process. It simulated the hands-on experience I needed to truly learn how to do something.

As the mechs placed the unconscious bot on the berth, I began my analysis of the situation.

"What happened?" I asked as I assessed his injuries. A broken leg strut, an arm twisted painfully out of place and a blow to helm damaged some of the circuits in his processor, but nothing that couldn't be fixed. The blow to the helm would account for the unconscious state, which was probably good given the pain his arm would've caused. I didn't really need to know what happened since it was only a simulation, but it was part of protocol to ask in case it revealed anything initial scans didn't.

"Ambush," one of the mechs said. "Snuck up on us before we had a chance to respond. Aquastorm was the first to go down."

Now that he said that, I looked at the mechs who had carried him as I administered a sedative to make sure he'd stay offline while I repaired him. They both had minor injuries that could wait longer than "Aquastorm" could. All three had dents in their armor, but they didn't appear to have any damage on their protoforms beyond a scratch or two that just required some salve. One of them did have a limp though, I noticed as he took a seat on a nearby berth.

"Both of you stay in here until I can tend to you," I ordered pointedly when the one who appeared mostly uninjured went for the door. He went to argue, but I cut him off without looking up from where I was wielding the leg strut back together on his unconscious friend. "Standard procedure, do not argue."

I vaguely heard a chuckle from Ratchet over the intercom and smirked to myself as the mech grumbled and joined his conscious friend, who was down-right laughing at him.

"You know, you remind me of Ratchet," the one with a limp commented after he had stopped laughing at his friend.

"Oh really?" I asked, raising an optic ridge and glancing up toward the spot I knew Ratchet was watching from. I focused back on my wielding within an astro-klik.

"Yeah," the mech said. "You know, it's pretty frustrating when it's Ratchet, but when it's a femme…" He trailed off, but a glance at his expression was more than enough for me.

I opened a comm channel with Ratchet. **"Ratchet, this hologram is hitting on me,"** I said with a pout and enough annoyance to show how I felt about it.

"**These programs are based off bots I once knew. I programmed them as they were when I knew them," **Ratchet replied.

"**Well I think this one should be reprogrammed,"** I replied. **"I find his stare to be very creepy…"**

"**You may have to deal with mechs like that someday," **Ratchet replied.

I went silent for a moment as I finished wielding. **"…I'm going to start carrying a wrench,"** I stated, glaring up at the holoform character.

I got the sense over the comm link that my teacher was amused by that fact. I shook my helm at him as I reached for the tools to start work on "Aquastorm's" arm. As I did so, a simple sentence made me grab the wrench.

"Why don't you say, once we're done here, we go out for some high grade?" the too cheerful mech offered. I was just asked out by a holoform program. That was not on my list of things to accomplish here.

As an answer, the mech received a wrench to the helm.

"OW! What was that for?!" he asked.

"Your face, that's what," I said and this time the one who had tried to leave was the one laughing.

I gave a huff and focused on the arm, mainly at the shoulder joint.

"**That's a bit of a harsh way to turn him down,"** I received a comm from Bulkhead, who must've joined Ratchet in observing me, probably waiting for use of the simulator.

"**You didn't see his expression then," **I replied. **"If someone who didn't look to be secretly sleazy, or openingly sleazy, were to ask me out and the answer was no I'd simply say 'no' and that'd be that."**

"**Still a bit harsh if you ask me,"** I heard Springer mutter.

"**Who asked you, Mcsleazy?" **I asked in a snarky tone as I untangled some wires in the mech's shoulder joint.

Springer growled. **"I don't like you anyway, you're probably the ugliest femme I've ever seen, Amanda."**

I froze everything I was doing and slowly turned to the hidden window for a moment, wings tense. "Computer….pause program," I said, narrowing my optics. I turned toward the door and walked out, walking directly to Springer and glared suspiciously at him. 

"How. Do. You. Know. That. Name?" I asked, my tone a dangerous one.

Springer grinned, seeing that his use of my human name got to me. I mentally slapped myself for letting him see how much it bothered me.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" he said smugly.

"I haven't told anybot here that name," I said, clenching my first to keep myself from grabbing him by the armor and pulling him down so I could glare into his optics as if it would help me intimidate him into answering me. "How do you know it?"

Springer merely continued smirking, not saying anything. I gave in and reached up, pulling him to my height.

"Tell me how you know that name before I throw you through that window," I growled, motioning with my helm to the window overlooking the simulator.

"Easy, Shade'," Bulkhead said carefully, prepared to pull me away from Springer at the first sign I'd do more than just glare at him.

"I'd like to see you try," Springer grinned, a look between disgust and condescending in his optics.

I was about to reply when the door to the Safe slid open and Optimus walked in, followed by Pathbreaker. A brief glance at Ratchet showed relief on his face and I got the sense he had commed the Prime, and perhaps my brother as well, fearing this little disagreement could get out of servo. Considering the fact that my brother looked none too pleased, I wasn't going to hang my hopes on him being here to be a peace-making factor.

"What," Optimus let a pause hang in the air for just the right amount of time to intimidate me into letting go of Springer's armor. "…is going on here?" he asked, looking between me and Springer.

"I just called little Miss Breaker here by her real name and she flipped," Springer said, making it sound like I had gone crazy. Maybe I had, but nothing was hurt except perhaps my pride.

"Shadebreaker is my real name, not what you called me, thank-you-very-much," I growled out, only vaguely aware of the others looking between me and Springer as if expecting me to try to claw his optics out or something. I had to admit the idea was tempting whenever I caught him leering at Arcee or Stormbreaker.

"Shade', calm down," Pathbreaker said, placing a servo on my shoulder. "What did he call you?"

I let out a heavy sigh, still glaring at Springer. "He called me my old human name," I said. I shifted on my pedes and crossed my arms. "Thing is I haven't told anybot that name, because I hate it and have disowned it. I want to know how he knows it and he won't tell me."

Optimus looked over at Bulkhead and Ratchet. "Is that what happened?" he asked.

"In a nutshell," Ratchet replied.

Optimus turned back to Springer and I, focusing more on Springer. "Springer, I would like to know how you know something the rest of us don't and why you did not inform anybot," he said.

Springer scoffed and gave a half shrug as he looked away. "I overheard those three," he said, indicating Pathbreaker and I, implying our sister as well. "I don't know what they were talking about, but I overheard her mention her human name. I didn't think it was anything important."

"If you heard that then you heard that I hate that name," I said with a slight growl, not looking at anybot.

Optimus looked at me with a near unreadable expression. I could read a trace amount of concern in his optics. "Shadebreaker, may I speak with you?" he asked.

I sighed and nodded, walking with him out of hearing range of the others. I kept my helm ducked, feeling bad that I had lost my temper over something that was probably so small to everybot else. One usually didn't react that way to hearing one's name, even if it was strange the person saying it shouldn't have known it.

"Shadebreaker," Optimus addressed me when we were out of hearing range. "May I ask what your human name was?" He wasn't really asking. He wanted to know the full story.

"It was Amanda," I said, looking at the ground. "I was, and am, not very fond of it. I preferred to be called Crys or Crystal, at least with my siblings."

I didn't have to look up to know Optimus was nodding. "And may I ask why you dislike your original name?"

I ducked my helm more, closing my optics. "Grade school," I said. "When I was going through it, as Raf, Jack and Miko are now, the other kids used to mock me and their favorite taunt involved my human name. They'd break it into syllables, using it to change my gender and my last name didn't really help much. A-man-duh is what they used to call me, sometimes adding or-man to it. Trying to say I was a man masquerading as a girl. It hurt more because I knew they did it to pick on me…I was never popular. I guess I kind of get defensive sometimes. Only so much hurt a girl can take. And all the nicknames that can be taken from it are tied to equally bad memories, if not worse. Hearing Springer say that name, not only made me suspicious of how he knew it, but also brought to mind a fact I don't like to visit…If it weren't Storm' and Path', and a few others, I would've died a long time ago…"

It was silent a moment as Optimus took in my words and what my last statement meant. If he came to the conclusion that there was a time I considered giving up on life, then he would be correct. And I knew I'd revisit that time if I were to lose either of my siblings, I knew because I had nearly been there once already. I had been happier here than I had been before we had come here, because I was with my siblings and was away from the bullies that haunted me even in my adult life. Away from those who wanted to control my life. Those who broke promises...

My thoughts were broken when I felt a servo on my shoulder and I looked up to find Optimus looking at me with gentle compassion.

"I understand your reasoning," he said. "Know that you are not there now. We all care about you here and that is not a deception. You are not alone."

I smiled a bit. "Thank you, Optimus," I replied, feeling that it was not a statement I should reply using his title.

He gave a brief smile before looking at me seriously. "However, know that if you harm Springer as the instigator outside a sparring match, you will be disciplined," he said. "I will not stand for dissention among my troops. It will take us all to defeat Megatron and his Decepticons. You and Springer must learn to work together."

If this was anybot else I was taking to, I would've scoffed at the idea. But this was Optimus. And Optimus's word was law. "I will try," I told him. "But I make no promises for results to your liking. But I will try."

Optimus nodded. "That is all I ask," he said.

After that was settled, I walked back to the others to see my brother and Springer were now in a staring contest. I sighed. The day my siblings and I got along with Springer was the day pigs flew. I walked over to Ratchet.

"I am sorry I cut out on my test because of that, Ratchet," I said. "In my mind, it was only a program and thus I could afford to pause it and confront Springer about my name and where he heard it. I will do better to hold my temper in real life situations."

"Hmph, I hope so," he replied. "But for now, you should go cool down. We will continue this later today. I expect you to keep your attention on the test and not any side chatter our teammates may cause."

"Yes sir," I said, giving a salute. I knew my body language told how I was currently feeling. My wings were slightly drooped and my shoulders were sagged, yet my whole body felt tense. I could see the concern in Ratchet's optics before he expertly hid it.

With that settled, however, I left the Safe, my brother not far behind me.

We went to the Rec Room, knowing at least some of the others would be there and as much as I wanted to retreat to my quarters, I knew it wouldn't help my mood.

"I am going to get you for that!" Miko's voice reached my audios the moment we entered the Rec Room.

She was playing multiplayer on War for Cybertron with Stormbreaker, Jack and Raf. The reason for her outburst was quite clear as Jack had just killed her character. She and my sister were on a team together while Raf and Jack made up the other team.

"Having fun?" I asked, chuckling as Miko made good on her promise and killed Jack's character. Jack's face afterward was just too good.

"Heck yes!" Miko said, chasing Raf's character around.

"This game is fun," Raf said, leading Miko right into Jack's line of sight where he sniped her.

"Aww," Miko pouted and then cheered when Stormbreaker took down Raf, only to pout again when my sister got sniped down as well.

"Gosh darn it!" Stormbreaker said, though she was grinning a bit.

"People liked cheating in our old dimension," I said. "But, yes it is a fun game." I agreed.

"They exploited the maps. Minor difference." Pathbreaker commented, not looking at the screen as he walked over to the Energon dispenser and got himself a cube of Energon.

"Would you like to join us?" Stormbreaker asked.

"If it's all the same to you guys, I think I'll just watch," I said. While the game was fun and I had no real reason not to play at the moment, I simply didn't feel like it. Maybe it was my session getting interrupted and my old name being brought up, but I just felt just hanging out.

We hung out for quite some time before an alarm sounded that told us the scanners had picked up something. Partially out of curiosity, partially because we wanted to help with whatever it was if we could and partially out of duty, my siblings and I, along with the humans we were currently spending time with, headed to the Ops Center.

When we reached the Ops Center Ratchet was already typing away at the main console with Optimus, Arcee and Bumblebee. I took a look at the screen and saw that two signals were popping up on the screen. One was somewhere on the United States, though my geography skills weren't that great so I couldn't tell what exact state, though it was either New Mexico or Arizona. The second one appeared to be located in Africa and vaguely I remembered something about there being a forest in that area of it. That's about all I could tell, however.

"I've detected two energy signals," Ratchet reported. "Both include the normal signals of a deposit of Energon, though the one here, in Africa, also seems to have a different signal. I cannot tell what it is, however. It's garbled, as if there is tons of interference."

My wings perked up a bit. For some reason that escaped me, something in me really wanted to check out the garbled signal. Maybe it just gave me a sense of adventure that I always liked growing up. Maybe it was just my curiosity peeking through. Whatever it was, it was bound to be more interesting than a mere Energon scouting trip the other one would likely be.

After being on so many Energon scouting missions with Arcee, Bumblebee, Ratchet and even Optimus tagging along with my siblings and I, I was getting bored of the normal, everyday trudge of making sure we had enough Energon that the Cons didn't win because we all starved. Not that I thought it wasn't important, just that sometimes I liked something else to do.

"Any idea where the garbled signal originates?" Arcee asked.

"None," Ratchet replied, shaking his helm. "The signal is too garbled, I can't pinpoint it or tell you if it's from Decepticon or Autobot."

"Well, then the only way to find out would be to check it out," I said, looking at the screen thoughtfully.

"Shadebreaker, Stormbreaker, Pathbreaker," Optimus addressed us. "I want you three to go to Africa. Use caution and don't hesitate to call if you require aid."

"Yes sir," I replied, giving a salute.

"Of course Prime," Pathbreaker nodded his acknowledged. 

"You bet!" Stormbreaker said, grinning happily.

"Arcee, Bumblebee, you will look into the other signal," Optimus said.

"Alright Optimus," Arcee said.

Within moments Ratchet was typing in commands to open a Ground Bridge to the location in Africa. With a perfect sounding whirl, the Ground Bridge started, making me smile slightly with a bit of pride. Wheeljack had had ideas to complete the repairs to the Ground Bridge after it still had some trouble after the defrag and it has worked perfectly, and a bit more efficiently, ever since. It gave me a small feeling of accomplishment because I had helped implement them, even if I did just follow orders on what to do.

"Breakers," Optimus addressed us by the name Stormbreaker had given our trio. "Good luck."

"Thank you, Optimus," Stormbreaker said, grinning.

The Prime nodded his acknowledgement and then we were off, me going through last after giving Optimus another salute.

When I stepped out the other side I found we were surrounded by trees that stood well above us. The forest appeared to be one of few untouched wildernesses left on the planet. The trees were thick and tall with the greenest vines I'd seen wrapped around some of them. The forest floor looked to be only disturbed by the animals that inhabited the forest.

It seemed to me to be a great place where the Cybertronians of old would've stashed some Energon. Away from prying eyes, a bot could easily walked through this forest without worrying about being seen by the humans. Which also meant less of a chance a human would stumble upon the Energon and get themselves hurt as my siblings and I had. Also, a good place to keep it away from the opposing faction if it was put here during the war. I wondered if the Energon deposits we found were all from Cybertronians hiding spoils across the planets of the known universe during the war, or if maybe some of them predated that.

"Hey sis! Stop spacing out and come on!" Stormbreaker called.

I smiled sheepishly. "Sorry!" I said as I jogged to catch up with my siblings. "I was just wondering if all the deposits are from the war."

"Isn't that what Ratchet told us?" Stormbreaker asked.

"He also said much of Cybertron's history was lost in the attack on Iacon," Pathbreaker said. "Optimus mentioned Cybertronians were once explorers, not bound to Cybertron. It's not impossible that some deposits could predate the war, predate the Golden Age even."

"I am still not sure what was so 'golden' about the vorns before the war," I said as we walked through the forest, optics peeled for what we were here for. I crossed my servos. "I mean, sure, it was peaceful, but it wasn't what I would call 'golden'."

"If they called those times the Golden Age, I wonder what they called the time of the Thirteen," Stormbreaker mused.

"Age of Discovery?" Pathbreaker suggested. "Before the Golden Age, when the Thirteen were ruling Cybertron, Cybertronians were explorers. They must've discovered a lot."

"The Ancients certainly discovered a lot more than the bots around in the vorns before the war," I agreed. "Maybe after the war, we can rebuild Cybertron and then discover what else is out there. The universe is a big place. I doubt what's in the library even covers a quarter of it."

"Probably covers so small a portion, it'd be pointless to try to figure out the exact faction," Stormbreaker pointed out.

"Of course," Pathbreaker said. "There are countless galaxies and even more solar systems and planets. Let's see, there are between two and four hundred billion known galaxies, and each has between ten million and one trillion stars. Say that every star has two planets, for averages, that would make a number well into the sextillions. So, I would say Cybertron never knew more than one billionth of the planets in the universe, and that's assuming they knew of trillions of planets. Also, at a pace of one planet visited per second, it would take at the absolute minimum, 100 trillion years to visit them all."

My sister and I just stared at our brother after his ramble was finished. I blinked once. Twice.

"You seriously just theorized how much is out there," I stated in shock.

"Yup," Pathbreaker replied. "Countless numbers don't keep me from trying to figure it out."

"You are insane, dear brother," Stormbreaker said, chuckling with a smile.

"And proud of it," he grinned.

"Would still be awesome to see them all," I said. "Even with that many."

Stormbreaker grinned. "Hey, we have eternity," she said.

"First we gotta survived the war," Pathbreaker pointed out. "Then we have eternity. Or at least until something else kills us."

"Who wants to think about dying?" I asked, slouching. "Possibility? Yes. But I don't want to think about it. We're alive now and we know where we're going if we do die….don't we?"

"I don't think our change of species changes the fact we are God's children," Pathbreaker replied.

"Well, yeah, see? Nothing to worry about," I said, grinning.

My mind was still on what else could be in the universe besides Cybertron, Earth and the places visited by the other Bots during their time in space, before they had found themselves here when we came across anything.

It was a small pillar-like structure, mostly covered by moss and vines. A couple flowers were on it as well. It reminded of those ruins you read about being left behind by the Mayans and other long lost civilizations.

To anyone else it probably wouldn't look like much. In fact, it would only look interesting to someone like an archaeologist or someone else interested in learning things. However, the scanner we had brought with was picking up a distinctly Cybertronian signal from it. It wasn't really a signal in the way we usually think of the term. It was more that, the scanner revealed something in the structure that was Cybertronian in origin. A metal within was one only found on Cybertron.

"I wonder if this is what caused the signal to be garbled," Stormbreaker muttered as I examined the small pillar-like structure. as I examined the small pillar-like structure.

"No, it's too small to cause any significant interference," I said.

"But it does make you wonder why Cybertonium is present in what appears to be a man-made object," Pathbreaker said.

"Perhaps there is more here than we are seeing," I suggested.

"Ooo, what does this do?" I heard Stormbreaker wonder out loud and turned a little too late to stop her from pressing a button that was apparently on the small pillar.

Before either of us could make a comment on how she probably shouldn't have done that given what usually happened when she pressed buttons she didn't know anything about, the ground started to shake.

I took a step forward to prevent myself from falling forward as I lost my balance. In doing so, I also looked down and found myself looking at a seam forming in the ground. At first it looked like the ground was cracking out from under our pedes due to the shaking, but a closer look revealed it was too smooth to be a result of an earthquake. I figured that rather than being caused by the earthquake, the forming gap in the ground was the cause of the shaking.

The trees and other plant life moved with the ground they were rooted in, though a few trees fell in the process and a bush shortly in front of me was uprooted when the ground beneath it split and a stairway formed, revealing a passageway large enough for the three of us to enter in single file. It was dark and we couldn't see beyond the few mechanos that the sunlight lit up.

"Well," I said, looking down into the passageway. "At least nothing exploded."

"Hey, not everything explodes when I press a button," Stormbreaker said, servos on her hips and failing to look upset with a big grin on her face. Nope. She wasn't sorry she pressed it at all.

"Only ninety-nine point nine three percent of the time do they explode," Pathbreaker said in a dry tone, causing me to laugh.

Stormbreaker glared, but it only lasted a second before she joined me in near hysterical laughter.

After a few moments, I got control of myself and, while my sister continued to laugh for another few moments, looked closer at the passageway that had been revealed. If we weren't on a mission, I wouldn't hesitate to explore, but the garbled signal could've been anything. It could've been Decepticons lying in wait or beating us to the Energon cache we were ultimately here for.

I was about to suggest we find a way to close it back up and get on with our mission, but then I noticed something. Along one side of the wall at the top was some encryptions. It was writing of a familiar origin.

"Hey, tell me if I'm wrong," I said, motioning for my siblings to look. "But isn't that the language of the Ancients?"

Pathbreaker looked at the writing and nodded. "It is," he confirmed.

"But what's the language of the Ancients doing here?" Stormbreaker asked.

"The Ancients were star explorers," I said. "It's conceivable they were here at some point in time."

"Maybe they left something behind besides just ruins," Pathbreaker said.

"Like some Energon," I said. "Or maybe a formula for Energon that tastes like hot chocolate." 

"Or weapons," Pathbreaker said.

"Or Cybertronian brownies," Stormbreaker suggested.

"Or weapons," Pathbreaker said again.

"You sure do like your weapons," I said, grinning over at Pathbreaker.

Pathbreaker grinned.

"So," Stormbreaker said. "Who wants to go into the creepy dark tunnel first?"

I took that as a cue and started down the stairs. My siblings followed shortly behind me and in a couple minutes we found ourselves on flat ground. We also found ourselves in the dark, though we weren't completely surrounded by darkness yet.

We paused to allow our optics to adjust to the lower level of light and I shifted on my pedes. I nearly jumped when I felt something beneath my pedes sink and then looked up as the ground started shaking again. In about the same amount of time it had taken to reveal itself, the entrance to the passageway closed, leaving us in complete darkness.

Trying to hold in a small amount of panic that tried to creep up on me, I looked for a way to open it back up as my siblings did the same. Our optics only took a few moments to adjust and we could see just fine.

"Well it looks like there's only one way to go," Pathbreaker said.

I looked around and tried to contact base, but all I got was static. "Looks like we gotta find our own way out," I said. "We won't be able to Ground Bridge out of this." I shrugged in the darkness. "Might as well see what we can learn."

We walked down the hallway, single file as that was all the space allowed for. I was in the lead, followed by my sister and Pathbreaker took up the rear. The small space made me a tad uncomfortable, but luckily about fifty mechanos, five hundred of the human measurement of feet, into the hallway, it widened up into a larger hallway, one that the three of us could easily stand side by side in. It lessened my discomfort, but I was still a bit tense from being underground.

"There's more writing on the walls here," Stormbreaker observed.

"It's not in Cybertronian of any kind," I noted, kneeling down and tilting my helm at the writing. "And it is rather close to the ground."

"Small people wrote it likely," Pathbreaker commented. "Perhaps there were other beings here besides the Ancients."

"Could be," I agreed. "Let's get going though, we still have an Energon cache to find."

We continued on through the ruins, continuing to look around as we did, but not stopping again. We passed some more writing in the Language of the Ancients and some more of that other writing as well. It became more and more apparent that Cybertronians had been here long before the war. They not only were here, but they interacted with people who we had not yet discovered whether they were human or something else. Maybe they were human and were a whole society of those really short people you sometimes see. At least the writing suggested they were rather short, but that didn't rule out non-shortness.

As we walked we eventually came to evidence of what kind of beings lived here, aside from any Cybertronian that had once called this place their home. A ways in we had to choose between paths and we had chosen the middle, which turned out to be a dead end. At that dead end, however, was something of historical significance.

It was a tomb for what we inferred was a king. The carving of a humanoid life form that was etched into the sarcophagus had a crown on his head. There was also a statue of the same being and it was clear what the being was exactly. It was a dwarf, smallness, chubbiness and beard all present. The whole structure of the person rendered by stone was that that was believed to be the structure of dwarves. It explained why there was writing in a language in neither Cybertronian or any known human language.

Dwarves were rumored to have really existed in some circles, but generally speaking they were believed to be mere mythical creatures. Creatures only existing in fictional stories of the more fantastical persuasion.

Yet here we were, standing in proof that even if dwarves don't exist anymore, they at least did at one point in time…here…on Earth. Not in some other realm or in fictional stories from the dawn of time. But they actually existed.

"Wow," Stormbreaker said. "Dwarves are real."

"Well, they were at least," I said, shrugging. "Who knew?"

"There are likely other ruins around the world like this," Pathbreaker noted, wiping some dust off some writing on the wall with a servo.

When the dust was all gone, we saw that the writing was a map of the world and though there was nothing saying the date I got the feeling that it was a very, very old map. There were dots with inscription next to them and it was easy to infer that they were cities, possibly others like this one.

"You know," I said. "I gotta wonder. Are there any dwarves left?"

"Who knows? If there are they aren't here anymore," Pathbreaker said.

"Hey! Guys I found something over here!" Stormbreaker called from across the room.

"What is it?" I asked, walking over to join her.

"This word seems to be important for some reason," Stormbreaker said. "It's set apart and has these symbols over it."

What she said was true. There were three symbols over a couple words written in the language of the Ancients. The first one appeared to be a star, or sun, and the one in the middle was a circle with what appeared to be many stars in it and the last was another circle with what appeared to be stormy clouds of what would be color if it weren't simply carved into the stone. I had a vague feeling all three would look a lot more amazing if they were colored.

"Wonder what it says," Stormbreaker mused.

"We can ask Optimus if he can read it," I said, taking out my datapad I modified to be able to take pictures. "If nothing else for curiosity's sake." I took a picture of the words and symbols above.

After that, we returned through the path back to the split and went down a different path, hoping this one would lead to an exit. There were a few doors down this hallway, most of which wouldn't open or were broken down, whether by some fight that happened eons ago or just the wear and tear of time, it was hard to tell. More writings were along these walls, in both the language of the Ancients and the other which we now figured was the language of the dwarves.

Eventually we came to a door that actually worked and decided we might as well check it out while we were here. Walking through it revealed a source of faint light at the far end of another hallway.

"Hey, I see light," Stormbreaker said.

"Probably the way out of here," I said, starting forward. "Let's go."

I led the way through the hallway, my siblings walking only slightly behind me as we headed toward the light. It didn't take long for us to reach the end of the hallway and we stepped out into light before ascending a staircase.

I stretched my wings out, soaking in the sunlight, and took a deep breath of fresh air. I couldn't help but feel tremendous relief to be out from underground. I definitely preferred it out in the open air than underground.

"Ah, fresh air," Stormbreaker said, also stretching her wings out.

Pathbreaker looked around before he spoke. "Ah, that's convenient."

"What is?" I asked, looking toward him.

"The fact we appear to have surfaced right next to our original objective." he deadpanned, pointing a digit behind me.

I saw what it was as I turned around to follow his pointing digit. There was a cave nearby with a slight blue glow visible far enough inside that we couldn't make out what was causing the glow. It was likely our original objective, as I didn't know anything besides Energon to make that blue glow that was emanating from the cave.

Walking into the cave revealed that he had been right in saying we had surfaced right by our objective. Energon crystals grew all along the cavern, glowing a bright blue that most Energon crystals we found did.

"Wow, there's enough Energon here to last a long time," Stormbreaker said.

"By my calculations, with our current number of bots at base and the average consumption of Energon we use for daily Energon and medical purposes," Pathbreaker explained. "This Energon should last for a year, looking at things optimistically."

"Unoptimistically a Con will pop in and destroy our hard work getting unlost and here," I stated flatly. "Thus leaving it useful for zero days."

"I like the optimistic option better," Stormbreaker said.

I chuckled. "The half way mark would be it only lasts us half a year," I said. "I like the optimistic one better too though."

Pathbreaker shook his helm at us as he put a servo to his helm, contacting base.

**~A Few Hours Later~**

I sighed, wiping my servos off on a rag as I exited the simulator. After we had brought all the Energon from both the mission I was on with my siblings and Arcee and Bumblebee's mission, Ratchet had me go through the test in the simulator again, since I had walked out on it this morning. I blamed Springer for that, but I was alright with doing it over.

I walked over to Ratchet where he was typing something on a datapad. I stopped a respectable distance in front of him, my wings twitching slightly.

Eventually he looked up at me with a ghost of a smile on his face. "You did well," he said and then pulled out another datapad from his subspace and looked at it.

My relief was palpable. He didn't look or sound like I had immensely impressed him, but he was at least satisfied with my performance enough he wasn't going to tell me I would make a crappy medic and I should stick with fighting.

He handed the new datapad to me. "This is what I want you to go over before our next training session," he said.

I accepted the datapad, nodding. "Yes sir," I said, smiling. "When should I report?"

"Tomorrow morning in the simulator," he replied. "I am going to go over some things hands on with you that unless a bot gets injured tonight we will need to simulate."

"Alright," I nodded in understanding. "I'll see you then Ratchet." I smiled and then heading out of the Safe after he nodded.

Once I was on ground level, I felt a bit of tension leave my body. Underground was definitely not a place I preferred to be. I understood why the Decepticons never got a base that's not floating around the sky. I still didn't know how they manage to avoid being seen by someone at some point, unless they completely cloaked their ship in reality unlike in the show. But I did understand why they preferred the air as a good portion of the Decepticon army were seekers.

I briefly wondered if we couldn't talk Fowler into getting the government to allow us a base with a bigger portion on ground level. That train of thought was cut off when I walked into the main area and found myself with a grinning sister in my face. I blinked, but she was still grinning that grin that said she was up to something. My look became suspiscious as her wings fluttered in an excited way.

"What…" I paused as I tried to figure out the answer from the look in her optics. No luck there. "…are you up to?"

"Bro and I are curious what Wheeljack is up to," she almost chirped the statement. "Care to join us?"

"Poke our helms in on the scientist most famous for blowing things up?" I asked. I couldn't help a small grin of my own. "Count me in. Besides, he has more successes than failures. His failures are just more memorable." I was saying this as we joined our brother on the walk toward Wheeljack's lab, which was across the hall from Pathbreaker's.

"Well, that's cause they're more flashy and make a lot of noise," Pathbreaker pointed out.

"That is very true dear brother," Stormbreaker said as we walked.

The walk to the inventor's lab didn't take long. Both labs were put near med bay so that in case of accident it wouldn't take Ratchet too long to reach whichever one the accident took place in. And the med bay was put close to the main room in case of an emergency-critically injured bots wouldn't need to be carried a huge distance, which would only harm chances of survival.

When we reached his lab, I knocked on the door. At the muffled "come in", I pressed the button to open it and cautiously poked my helm in.

Wheeljack's lab was a bit cleaner than his reputation for things exploding would lead one to believe. Only a few bits and bobs were on the floor and those were confined to near the base of whatever work table they were supposed to be on. The work tables were the messiest places, with a partially completed project on both work tables. The shelves lining the walls were filled with even more items than Pathbreaker's shelves were. That might've been because Wheeljack had more shelf space with the lack of racks of weapons though. There were also several tool boxes laying around.

Seeing that nothing was currently exploding, I walked in, followed shortly by my siblings.

"Well hey there!" Wheeljack said cheerfully, the fins on his helm lighting up. "Didn't expect anybot to show up for another hour when I called everybot!"

The three of us paused. "You were gonna call everybot?" Stormbreaker asked.

"We were just curious," Pathbreaker said. "But now I'm interested to know what you're inventing."

Wheeljack's fins lit up, showing his excitement. "An Energon Converter," he said.

I frowned. "Don't we have one of those?" I asked, referring to the machine that turned raw Energon crystals into the liquid we drank and used as ammo and for medical reasons.

Wheeljack shook his helm. "That's an Energon Processor," he said. "An Energon Converter will take raw energy of any kind and convert it into Energon."

"Like lightning rods turn lightning into electricity," Pathbreaker noted.

"Or dams create electricity using water movement," I supplied.

"But there are no bodies of water around here," Stormbreaker said.

"And this part of Nevada is pretty dry," I said. "Won't see any lightning unless Jasper has a monsoon season."

"True, but see, the converter will be able to convert electricity into Energon, as well as any of other energy source," he explains.

"Food?" I asked.

Wheeljack paused. "I might be able to work that in as a source," he said.

"I wonder if you could, if it would taste like the food you use," Stormbreaker said as Wheeljack got back to working on it as if we weren't here.

His fins lit up in a shade of blue that said he was a little disappointed. "Unfortunately not," he said. "I could, however, create an upgrade to allow us to eat human food in our holoforms. Would likely have some ill-side effects though."

"Or! We could invent Energon that tastes like human food," I said. I looked at Pathbreaker. "Hey bro, how do you feel about inventing Hot Chocolate Energon?"

"Sounds tasty," Stormbreaker grinned.

"I say, let's do it," Pathbreaker grinned.

Before anyone had anytime to say anything more, a loud whirring sound came from Wheeljack's device in progress. Wheeljack's fins lit up in alarm and he dived to ground, pulling my sister and I down with him.

"Down!" he shouted and Pathbreaker just had time enough to duck before the Converter in progress exploded spectacularly.

I covered my helm with my servos, closing my optics to shield them from the smoke as I felt a piece of burning hot debris bounce off my left wing. I hissed slightly and folded my wings close to my chassis in order to avoid them being hit again. Granted, since we hadn't had time to find actual cover, my front still got pelted by a couple more pieces before the explosion died and all that was left was smoke to leave the point of origin.

Once the noise died and the wind, I cautiously opened my optics, uncovering my helm. Slowly, my wings unfolded as I stood and I inspected the spot on my wing that had been struck. There was a burn where the piece had struck and a tiny bit of the metal was melted from the extreme heat from the explosion, but it was nothing Ratchet couldn't fix into like new. It wouldn't leave a scar.

I turned my attention to the smoldering pile of ash only long to know Wheeljack would have to completely start over his project. I then glanced at my siblings and the inventor himself as each stood to survey the damage. Other than being covered in ash and a similar burn to my own on the back of Wheeljack's shoulder, they were all fine. I looked around at the scattered mess caused by the explosion.

"You might want to hold off on calling everybot about this, Jackie," I noted.

Wheeljack's fins lit up. "Ah, well," he said. "At least I'm making progress!"

I couldn't argue with that. Not even as Ratchet rushed in and started lecturing Wheeljack about causing explosions while tending the minor injuries sustained. Or as Pathbreaker left quietly to clean off the ash from his chassis, having already been cleared with no damage thanks to his double layer armor, which didn't sustain more than a scratch. He was lucky enough not to be struck on the wing by any flying debris.

"Aw, take it easy on him Ratch'," I said, brushing off some ash from my forearm as my friend and mentor tended to my wing gently. "No big injuries. And sometimes science is just explosive."

Ratchet grunted. "I suppose," he said as he finished my wing. "Alright, you're free to go."

I smiled and turned to look at him. "I know I don't say it much, but thanks," I said. "For fixing my wing, and for teaching me."

Ratchet nodded, blinking in surprise. "You are welcome," he said.

I vaguely felt optics following me as I bounded out of Wheeljack's lab and headed toward the washracks. I wasn't one to care much about being dirty, but I did care when the dirtiness messed with my gears and caused them to jam. I hadn't had it happen yet, but Bulkhead told me it could be quite painful, so I was inclined to get clean sooner rather than later. I could already feel the ash working itself into my ventilation systems from the smoke that hadn't cleared the lab before I left.

I passed by Arcee on the way and she took one look at me before shaking her helm.

"Wheeljack?" she asked, joining me on the way to the washracks.

"Yup," I said. "His experimental Energon Converter exploded. Bummer, he was hoping it would be done and show off worthy in an hour."

Arcee chuckled. "One of those would definitely help our need for Energon," she said. "I'll help you get cleaned up if you like."

"I wouldn't want to take you from your duties," I said, glancing over at her. "Don't you gotta take Jack home soon?"

"The kids are spending the night to finish their essays in peace," she replied. "So I'm free unless the Cons stir up trouble."

I grinned. "We should make it quick then," I said. "The Cons love stirring up trouble."

Arcee chuckled. "That they do," she agreed.

My wings fluttered happily. It had been a long time since I had joked and talked happily with someone outside of my family and my two adopted siblings. I was happy that here I had friends I could talk with and Arcee was gradually becoming one of my best friends in this dimension. I had even convinced her she didn't have to hide behind her wall when it was just me, her and my sister. She was still a little guarded when Pathbreaker was with us, but she was slowly opening up to him as well.

Stormbreaker was still convinced the fembot had a developing crush on our brother, but I was just happy to have a friend. Too happy to conspire about possible feelings between them, at least not yet.

And as Arcee and I chatted while getting clean, it became apparent to me that I didn't want to lose this and I didn't know what I would do if someday we ended up back in our original dimension.

But for now, for now I would just enjoy the time I had here.

"Heads up!" Arcee said and just as I turned to her she tossed a whole bucket of water onto my, rinsing off much of the suds, save on the ends of my wings.

I blinked the water out of my optics and then grinned at the smirking femme. "It's on now!" I said and we started having a water fight, which only got more fun when Stormbreaker walked in and joined us.

Life was good, I decided. Very good.

**And the credit song is… Applauzium - New Life **www .youtube watch?v=VZlscn7Lkek&list=FLq_vjH4sxvffQ7weKZrLyEg


	9. Flight

**A/N: **Hello all! Sorry it took me so long to get this update. Part of it I have been a busy bee lately, but also because I allowed myself to be distracted by so many other things and I apologize. I will try to be faster with my writing from now on. Make myself write everyday instead of putting it to the side. That's my plan.

For those of you who read my other stories, I feel I should remind you all that Across the Galaxy will not be updated for a while, not until I get through chapter 17 of this story. Again, the reasons for this are my own and I hope you all will understand. I will be continuing to write it, however, it is in fact the next on my agenda. Then will be IAPA, which will be updated when the chapter is done, and after that I intend to try to work on my original novel.

On another note, I have not been doing a very good job lately of replying to reviews, so starting tonight I am going to make myself look at reviews and respond when I see them rather than putting it off until later and then forgetting as seems to be the trend lately. I am truly sorry about not responding. Typically when I see them I have just woken up or just got home from work and I'm not fully in gear for responding, but hopefully by setting a certain time every night I will do better on that.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the chapter! Have fun reading! :D

**Chapter 9: Flight**

_~Friday, July 20, 2012~_

"Save me!" Stormbreaker called out as she ran away from me. She ducked behind Optimus, who just happened to be unlucky enough to be nearby us. "She's gonna poke me!"

"Come back...here..." I stopped and stood at attention, saluting Optimus as I always did when I ran into him. I knew I didn't have to, but it was an automatic reaction ever since the first time I saluted him. I figured it was partially due to having to salute when I was in band camp. We had a military oriented Band Leader one year and it stuck. "Optimus!"

"What is going on?" Optimus asked, raising an optic ridge at how I went back to trying to get to my sister, though failed because she remained firmly behind Optimus and he was the one bot I wouldn't just dart by.

"She's trying to poke me!" Stormbreaker exclaimed.

"She was intentionally egging me on," I defended myself. "It's not like a poke would hurt."

Optimus looked a bit exasperated with us. "Enough!" he told us as I tried to reach behind him to poke my sister only for her to duck to his other side.

In response, I backed up and immediately straightened out, standing at attention as Stormbreaker stopped her shenanigans.

"You two need to expend your excess energy," Optimus said. "Preferably not with me in the middle. I suggest going for a flight would help you."

"Yes sir!" I said, saluting him. A flight sounded very nice.

Optimus looked between us and when it was clear we weren't about to rush each other with him in between us, he moved on. As soon as he was walking away down the hallway, I grinned at my sister.

"Race ya to the elevator," I said.

Stormbreaker grinned and then ran off in the direction of the elevator. I actually would've preferred to go on a mission, but things were really quiet for the last few days. It was why Stormbreaker and I had so much energy to spend. My lessons with Ratchet were going well and took up my mornings, but they didn't use up a lot of my energy. I personally was getting antsy due to the fact that nothing had happened for a few days, not even a quiet recon mission to an Energon signal.

"I win!" Stormbreaker cheered.

I shrugged as I joined her into the elevator. "I wasn't really trying," I said, standing next to her and reaching over to press the button to take us up top.

"Sure you weren't," she teased.

I looked at her flatly before grinning and bumping my shoulder against hers, pushing her slightly.

"Hey!" Stormbreaker said and poked my side.

I squeaked as I shoved her hand away. "No," I said, pouting at her.

A moment's silence fell over us before I broke it.

"I think we should make sure to go out for a flight or spend time in the simulator whenever we have a day without a mission," I noted. "It would prevent our energy from getting pent up."

"I agree," she agreed as we waited for the elevator to reach its destination.

A few moments later the door to the elevator opened and we walked outside. I took a deep breath of the fresh air, feeling better already.

"Seekers staying underground for several days." I paused and took a breath. "Problematic."

Stormbreaker laughed. "You sound like Mordin when you say that," she said, referring to a character in one of our favorite video games.

I grinned and then walked further out to the edge and looked out across the scenery. Desert stretched out as far as my optics could see. A few cacti stood out in the landscape, but other than that it was mostly desert, along with a view of Jasper in the distance in one direction.

"Where should we fly to?" Stormbreaker asked.

"How about that direction?" I asked, pointing in the opposite direction from Jasper. "It might look suspicious to the humans if we fly over Jasper."

"Is good point, that way it is!" she replied, pointing where I had pointed.

We transformed and took off over the desert. It was nice to be in the air again after a few days of being cooped up in the base. We flew out over the desert, which was a beautiful, though boring, scene to look down upon. At that moment I missed trees and forests. I wondered why the Autobot base couldn't be surrounded by trees like in other continuities, probably other realities. I pushed those thoughts aside though, as they weren't important. Besides, if the base was anywhere else Jack, Raf and Miko wouldn't be here.

Thinking that things would be different if the base was located somewhere else, I wondered what was going to be different in this reality with the three of us here compared to what would've happened if we hadn't ended up here. If we had seen more of the show, would it have even made a difference? The reality of the show and this reality clearly would've split paths as soon as we arrived in this one, but it was hard to even know if they were the same prior. It was hard to know without fully knowing the past of the show's reality and impossible to know what the future would hold.

Thinking about that somehow led to a mental image of a possibility where the three of us arrived in a reality just like this one, except where the bots here were different. I mentally shook my helm to rid myself of the image, because that wasn't the reality I was in, thus irrelevant. Plus the fact when my mind started imagining things it could get out of hand rather quickly in the form of rampant plot bunnies that demand to be written. It would be quite odd to be writing a fanfic on Transformers while in a reality where they exist.

"Whatcha thinkin'?" Stormbreaker asked.

"That I'm gonna need a new fandom to write fanfiction of," I stated. "It would be awkward to explain to the bots if they caught me writing fanfiction about them."

"That would be awkward," Stormbreaker agreed. "Mass Effect maybe?"

"There are a number of possibilities," I noted. "I haven't written anything for some time now. It is kinda starting to depress me. I think I might keep a journal of our adventures as well. Might help kick my muse into shape again."

"It might," Stormbreaker said. "It might also help to set a time to write every day. You know, when we're not scouting Energon signals, kicking Decepticon aft or any of the other stuff we have to do now."

"Technically, we could choose not to do any of it," I pointed out. "We don't have to do anything and no one would force us to. But I know what you mean. I wouldn't not do it. It would be wrong to just ignore the situation when we have the ability to help."

"I wouldn't want to just sit on the sidelines," Stormbreaker said. "That would just be wrong."

"That's what I said," I said, chuckling.

"I know, I was just restating the fact," she replied. "Hey! There's bro! Hey bro!"

I shifted my attention and indeed there was our brother. I hadn't noticed at first, because I was looking elsewhere when he became visible and I wasn't constantly looking for friendly signals nearby, or even hostile. I mentally frowned at myself for being so oblivious, but shrugged it off as we flew over to join him where he was flying at a slightly slower pace than we had been.

"Hello my sisters," Pathbreaker replied as we flew up beside him. "How are you?"

"Oh you know, being attacked by plot bunnies," I said. "And trying to keep from going stir crazy."

"Same, except for the plot bunnies," Stormbreaker put in as her answer. "What about you?"

"Just trying to think of how to continue my project," our brother answered. "I couldn't concentrate, so I decided stepping away and getting some air would be the best thing I could do."

"What project are you working on?" I asked.

"I am trying to improve our holoforms," he answered. "However, I am having some issues with the frequency I need to use in order to improve them."

"Hmm, perhaps you could brainstorm with Wheeljack," I suggested. "And I would be happy to offer assistance in my free time not spent writing."

"Thank you and I will try that," Pathbreaker replied. "Though I will double check all his suggestions to avoid explosions."

"Aww, but explosions are fun!" Stormbreaker said cheerfully. "Just don't get blown up yourself."

"Considering our holoform technology is built into our frames," I said. "If it exploded, so would we."

"Point," she said. "Yeah double checking is good idea."

"So, what have you been up to today, bro?" I asked after a moment's silence.

"Not much," Pathbreaker replied. "As I said, working on improving our holoforms. I have also started brainstorming ways to make Energon taste like human foods."

"I miss some foods," I said. "I would really like to see if we can replicate that taste."

"Sounds yummy," Stormbreaker said, grinning.

"Yup," Pathbreaker agreed. "What have you two been doing?"

"Eh, not more, running around causing..." I started, but cut myself off as I caught sight of a rather large space craft flying through the atmosphere. "Well it looks like our cycle won't be boring after all."

The craft itself was a light Cybertronian frigate, roughly three hundred meters long, and based on outward appearance has three decks to it. I could see a small main gun on the front end of it along with a few small anti-fighter and anti-missile turrets. The area that would be its cargo hold, from schematics I've looked over in the library, was large enough to hold enough energon to keep a crew of thirty bots online for a month.

The anti-fighter turrets were firing at several Vehicons that were harassing the poor frigate. There was also a large hole in the side and it was easy to see that a battle was taking place inside as well, if the offlined mech with a servo hanging out the hole was any indication. Near the front was an easily recognizable symbol, the Autobot insignia. Near the back was evidence of a fuel leak.

Not half a minute after we spotted it did we turn our course to take us toward the frigate, even as Ratchet's voice crackled to life in my comm.

**"Ratchet to Shadebreaker,"** he said calmly. "**We've detected a few Autobot signal near your position under attack by Decepticons."**

**"Already on it, Ratchet,"** I answered.** "A light frigate, large enough to hold up to thirty bots. The Vehicons are harassing them, but we'll get them off their tail."**

Even as I spoke to Ratchet, I shifted my trajectory to head directly toward one of the Vehicon fliers firing at the anti-fighter turrets and fired off a missile. My missile hit my intended target on their right wing, knocking the Vehicon off balance and melting the majority of the wing off, causing the Con to go careening toward the ground.

"Autobots!" a Vehicon shouted out, being made aware of our presence by my assault on his buddy.

"Well then kill them you idiot!" another Vehicon shouted just before being ripped apart by Pathbreaker's Ion Displacer.

The Vehicons started fighting back then, firing off missiles at us. There weren't many though and we made quick work of them between the three of us. I was nicked a few times by the Vehicons' shots, but they weren't good shots caught off guard. They weren't online long enough to retaliate enough to actually hurt us.

I smoothly flew into the hole in the side of the struggling frigate and transformed, landing just as the entire ship tilted to the side, causing me to stumble into the side of the corridor. As my siblings carefully landed on the tilted ship, I pushed myself off the wall and looked toward the front of the ship.

"The Cons have made it to the cockpit," I noted. "I'll head there, you two split up and search for survivors."

"What? No!" Stormbreaker protested. "I'm not letting you go into a known combat situation by yourself!"

"It would be more effective to find survivors if you both searched," I countered.

"Yes, but I am equipped to handle a firefight by myself, you are not," Pathbreaker said. "It would be logical to take a partner into a battle zone. I am enough for a search and rescue."

I looked at my siblings, ready to argue, but I saw that neither of them would be budging. I sighed in resignation, feeling slightly irritated that they didn't think I could handle it, but knowing arguing would be pointless. Besides, I'd probably look back later and see that they were right. This wasn't our first battle since coming here, but it was the first without the other bots backing us up. And they wouldn't be, at least not until we hit ground.

"Fine," I said, bracing myself against the wall as the frigate shook again, leveling back out. "Let's go."

I found my balance on the falling ship and led the way toward the front of the frigate, my sister not far behind. Our brother went a different way as we carefully made our way forward.

Part of the way through we ran into a group of Vehicons. I ducked to the side as I was fired upon and directed a shot from my Plasma Cannon toward the nearest Vehicon. My shot hit the Vehicon in the right shoulder, making him stumble and make a pained noise. I shot again before he could recover, hitting him in the helm this time, dropping to the floor.

Even as my target fell, I moved my aim to another Vehicon. My first shot only singed his side, leaving him enough time to get a shot on me, though my shot through his aim off my right shoulder. I cringed and hissed as a blast hit my left shoulder. I was grateful it was my left and not my right, as it was my right servo that my weapon was built into and the shot left my shoulder hurting a little. I'd rather not aggravate it too much.

I fired at the Vehicon again, this time hitting him directly in the chest, downing him as my partially charged shot ate his armor down to his core.

A glance toward Stormbreaker showed she was already downing her third Vehicon with her bow and arrow and was mostly unscathed, except for a singed part of her armor where she had been brushed by a shot.

I turned back to our opponents and in a few moments we had wiped out our attackers.

"You alright?" my sister called, checking how many arrows she had left.

"Fine," I said, rolling my shoulder. It hurt a little bit when I moved it, but otherwise it was fine. I wasn't getting any warnings I would get with a serious injury. It wouldn't even need healing gel-handy little things that reminded me of Medigel off of Mass Effect-as it was mostly like someone punched me. "Just barely got through my shields, mostly just singed my armor. Let's keep moving."

The shields were an invention of Wheeljack and Pathbreaker-a project they had completed just a few days ago. They ran off our own Energon so they didn't require packs, but even so, we only turned them on when we were out on missions. We didn't need the extra protection on base, where we were only surrounded by friendlies. They reminded me of the shields in Mass Effect. We didn't take any real damage until they were taken down and if we went long enough without getting shot our personal systems could recharge them, though it took two minutes and thirty seconds to start and another thirty seconds to be at full power.

They were very handy and thankfully, Pathbreaker was there to make sure the project didn't explode when it was tested. Considering I volunteered to be the guinea pig for the project-I got a little excited about the idea of something that could potentially lower the chance of injury to my fellow bots-I was grateful for not having to spend a few days in med bay for something other than my medic training.

"Mine got taken down too," Stormbreaker said, following me. "I'd feel better if we waited for them to recharge."

"That would take a couple minutes," I replied as I pressed myself against the wall near a corner. The ship shifted again, luckily it tilted in a way that pushed me against the wall I was pressed against and not out where anyone beyond the corner would see me. "A couple minutes I'd rather not waste as those couple minute could mean the lives of the bots on this ship."

I peered around the corner, optics searching out any movement. Nothing. The remaining distance to the cockpit was clear, but I knew behind the closed door was probably anything but nothing. There was at least one Autobot in there along with hostiles. A glance back at Stormbreaker told me she knew this too and would follow me in.

Quickly and silently we made our way the remaining stretch to the closed door. I heard gunfire on the other side and a few voices, though we didn't have time to figure out what voice belonged to our side and what voice belonged to the other side. We'd know who to shoot when we saw them.

It didn't take but a moment to slam a servo on the button to open the doors and we darted in, firing our weapons. Immediately I took down one Vehicon with a partially charged shot and made another stumble, leaving it open to attack from the bots who were bunkered down on the other side of the room, utilizing the little cover there was in it. At the same time, Stormbreaker took out two Vehicons with her exploding arrows.

The remaining five Vehicons didn't last much longer, our surprise entry throwing them off balance and allowing us and the bots who were already here to easily gun them down.

Once they were all down, I surveyed the hall outside to see if any reinforcements were coming while one of the present bots, a red one whose paint reminded me of roses, ran over to the controls and stabilized the frigate. When I was sure we were safe-at least for the time being-I turned back to survey the cockpit to find two bots looking at us, guns pointed at us, which wasn't surprising since they didn't know us, and a yellow bot joining the red one.

One of the mechs looking at us was black and white with a symbol similar to that of the police badge on each wing of a set of door wings. He had on a yellow visor and upon his forehelm was a red crest. His expression was neutral, but I got the feeling he was analyzing the situation and my sister and I to determine if we were a threat. The doorwings gave him away as being a Praxian, as I had learned from Ratchet was what they meant. Apparently only bots from Praxus possessed doorwings. It was a curious fact.

The second mech was all black. His blue optics were uncovered and the Autobot insignia sat proudly over his spark, with a slight modification I recognized from Bulkhead's own insignia. It was the insignia of the Wreckers. Bulkhead was going to be happy to see him again.

I intentionally twitched my wing out where they'd see my insignia proudly stamped upon it, toward the end. It had worked to alleviate Wheeljack's worry, I could only hope that these bots would trust that we really were Autobots. I saw their optics go to my insignia and then immediately seek out Stormbreaker's before lowering their weapons.

"Sor'y 'bout that," the black mech said. "Haven' seen an Autobot seeker in a long time. Most of ya ar' 'Cons."

"Understandable," I said, shrugging. "I'd be cautious too." I shifted my weight as the other mechs got the ship back under control, levelling it out. "Name's Shadebreaker. And this is Stormbreaker, my sister." I motioned to my sister, who was recollecting a few of arrows. She would often reclaim all arrows she could, but we also created new arrows for her to replace ones that were unsalvageable.

"Ironhide," the black mech said. "This here is Prowl and the idiots over there are Sunstreaker and Sideswipe."

"Hey!" the red one yelled. "Why is Sunny first?"

"Because I'm older you nitwit," the yellow one replied.

"Are not!" Sideswipe called.

"Yes, I am," Sunstreaker said. "I came out first, that makes me older."

I did a facepalm. "Twins, I take it," I said, looking at the calmer mechs. Only one kind of sibling would have that kind of argument.

"Indeed," Prowl said as the twins started lightly punching each other. The ship rocked as Sideswipe hit a button in the scuffle.

Ironhide walked over to them and slapped both of them on the helm. "That's enough. We need to land this bucket before all our fuel leaks out."

I turned and pointed my Plasma Cannon as I heard footsteps and the others turned their own weapons toward the door. After a few brief and tense moments, a large black mech stepped into view and I instinctively shot, which was followed by a brief silence as the mech stepped further into view. He looked down at where I shot him, before looking back up at me.

"What'd I do?" Pathbreaker asked, an innocence in his tone that had our sister laughing.

I facepalmed. "Bro, could you comm ahead next time?" I asked. "That easily could've been a charged shot, which would've done damage to you."

"But it wasn't and it didn't," Pathbreaker stated in a clear effort to alleviate my feelings of guilt he likely knew I'd feel at shooting him. "But I will remember to do that next time."

My wings twitched a little in anxiety. I had just shot my brother. As much as he probably didn't blame me and as much as it didn't hurt him, I felt bad for doing so. I should've contained my jumpiness. I shouldn't have shot until I knew it was an enemy. But I knew he wasn't mad at me, I could see that in his optics. If the offended was not, in fact, offended, then I should not be either. But still...

"Prowler! Why woul' ya point dat gun at me?!" a white and blue mech said, a grin on his face and despite the blue visor covering his optics I could tell they were sparkling as he stepped out from behind my brother.

"Jazz," Prowl inclined his helm, lowering his weapon.

Ironhide looked my brother up and down as he put his Ion Displacer back in his backplates, satisfied the no one was gonna shoot us. "Who's this?" he asked.

"My name is Pathbreaker," my brother replied.

"He is my brother," I said. "He was taking care of any 'Cons on the rest of the ship. How'd that go, by the way?" I turned to my brother.

Pathbreaker looked at me. "There are no more 'Cons on the ship," he reported.

"Any others?" I asked, causing the twins and Ironhide to look over.

Pathbreaker shook his helm.

"We're da only ones who made it," Jazz answered, his demeanor taking a less cheerful aura than when he first appeared from behind my brother. He looked almost depressed.

My wings drooped a little, but I asked the next logical question. "How many were on this ship to begin with?" I asked, almost dreading the answer.

"At full capacity, this frigate would have carried thirty bots," Prowl reported. "However, it was flying with only half that amount."

"We lost ten good mechs in the battle with the Decepticon scout ship we came across when entering the system," Sideswipe grumbled.

"What was a scout ship doing way out there?" Stormbreaker asked.

"Prob'bly same thing as us," Jazz said. "Followin' the boss's orda's ta come help."

"If they hadn't of got da jump on us, they'd have been scrap metal instead," Ironhide growled, slamming his fist together.

I felt my wings droop fully and I sighed. "Well...nothing we can do about that now," I said, looking over at a fallen Autobot by one of the broken consoles. The mech was mostly red with some yellow and orange highlights. From the way his body lay, he was caught off guard at his station and died in an explosion caused by his console overloading. It was the communications console, which explained why we never got a distress call.

"Poor mech was a civilian," Ironhide commented, seeing me looking at his fallen comrade. "Got dragged into this when he and his sister had to evac their ship onto ours. A 'Con ship destroyed it and the rest of their crew. They were neutrals. He volunteered his communications skills to aid us in finding the Prime again afterward."

"An innocent," I said, wings stiffening and then twitching angrily. "The Decepticons aren't ones for morales are they?"

"Nope," Ironhide agreed.

I was silent for a moment before speaking. "We should contact base," I said. "Optimus will want to know about this and you guys probably could use a place to stay."

"Ya know Boss Bot?" Jazz asked.

"Yeah," Stormbreaker replied. She shifted on her pedes a little as Jazz turned his attention to her and grinned.

"Great! Ah've been wonderin' where da boss has been," Jazz said. "And how he has survived withou' meh!"

Ironhide chuckled and Prowl sighed long-sufferingly.

"I am sure Optimus has survived just fine without you Jazz," Prowl said.

I shook my helm and tuned out the conversation at that point in order to contact base.** "Shadebreaker to base,"** I said into the comm.

**"Shadebreaker,"** Optimus's voice came through the commlink. **"What is your status?"**

**"I assume Ratchet told you about the ship,"** I replied, glancing over to see Jazz attempting to make conversation with my sister, though she was being abnormally shy.

**"He informed me of the situation,"** he confirmed.

**"We've cleared the ship of Decepticon aggressors,"** I reported. **"There were fifteen bots aboard...all but five of them were offlined before we reached the ship, possibly before they even entered Earth's atmosphere. The survivors would be able to give a better report on the full happenings on the ship, but it seems they were ambushed when they entered the system and their comms were damaged so they couldn't call for help."**

**"I see,"** Optimus said and I could tell his spark was heavy hearing about the loss. **"Who are the survivors?"**

**"Jazz, Prowl, Ironhide, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker,"** I reported and subsequently heard a grown.

**"Why'd it have to be the twins?" **Ratchet's voice came over the comm.

I couldn't help the grin. **"They can't be that bad, Ratch'," **I said with a chuckle. But then I got back on topic before it could stray too far. **"Anyway, the ship is damaged and we're headed for a landing. There's a fuel leak so we can't stay airborne much longer."**

**"Understood,"** Optimus answered. **"We will send a team to meet you."**

**"Understood," **I answered before turning the comm off. I then relayed the information to the others.

"So who's all here?" Ironhide asked.

"Well, let's see," I said. "There's Optimus, Arcee, Bumblebee, Bulkhead, Ratchet, Wheeljack and Springer."

"Bulkhead and Springer, eh?" Ironhide asked. "How're they doin'?"

"Bulkhead's doing good," I said. "To be honest, I try to avoid Springer."

"I do not blame you," Prowl nodded. "Springer is known for his crude advances on femmes."

My wings twitched a bit and I glanced over to see Stormbreaker now into a conversation with Jazz I wasn't listening to. I turned my attention to my own conversation.

"I'll have ta talk to that mech," Ironhide shook his helm.

"What's the situation here?" Prowl asked, moving onto a different topic.

"We are very much outnumbered by the Decepticons," I replied. "Megatron is seemingly out of the equation, but I have a feeling he will not remain that way. Meanwhile Starscream is leading the Decepticons. We have a small base and including you five there are now fifteen Autobots on Earth compared to hundreds, if not more, of Decepticons onboard the ever-moving Nemesis."

"Ah noticed ya got some kind of personal shield," Ironhide commented. "Noticed it when ya shot Pathbreaker."

"An invention of my brother and Wheeljack's," I commented. "Wheeljack started the project after seeing us play Mass Effect, a human game my siblings and I are fond of. Path' joined the process, not trusting a prototype of Wheeljack's not to explode on us the first use."

"Well, you did volunteer to test it," Pathbreaker said. "I wasn't about to let my sister be blown up by a Wheeljack prototype."

Ironhide chuckled as I rolled my optics.

It wasn't long before we were on the ground and meeting up with Optimus, Ratchet and Arcee. When we did, we ironed out the details of how we were going to deal with the ship. It was decided that it would be temporarily kept at a secure human military facility until we could renovate a hangar for it in our base where it would be repaired and restored to full operation. That would require some negotiation with the government as they would have to fund the project, because we couldn't just go around and take the resources needed without asking.

An hour later we were back at base with Agent Fowler present and talking with Optimus about possible renovations, to include a hangar for ships. Along with Fowler was another man, a Navy admiral by the name of Steven Hackett. The admiral reminded me strongly of the Admiral Hackett from the Mass Effect games I was so fond of. It made me wonder if he knew about the games and if so what his opinion was on the fact the character looked exactly like him.

I was listening in along with Ratchet, my brother and Wheeljack as it would be us who would be responsible for repairing the Shadow of Hope, the frigate that the new bots arrived on. Prowl was also present, being Optimus's second-in-command, as was Arcee, having been in Prowl's position during his absence.

"What will be the purpose of the frigate once it is repaired?" Hackett asked.

"It will aid us in missions that may require going further than the Ground Bridge can take us," Optimus replied.

"It certainly would have come in handy when I had to bridge the lot of you into space," Ratchet grumbled.

"If I may, I have an idea," Pathbreaker said, looking at Optimus.

Optimus nodded. "Go ahead, Pathbreaker," he said.

"What if we modified it to be a stealth ship?" my brother suggested. "It would lower the chance that, in the case we require its use, the Decepticons would detect us and possibly allow us to complete the mission with little to no problem."

"Hm, sounds like it could come in handy," Arcee noted. "Something worth checking out." She added, looking to Optimus to see what he thought.

Optimus looked thoughtful before turning to Wheeljack and Ratchet, the two more experienced scientists. "Would such modifications be possible?" he asked.

Wheeljack nodded immediately, his fins flashing excitedly. "Sure would! Just give us the right tools and time and we could easily pull that off," he replied.

"Given that we can get the right supplies," Ratchet grumbled. "All this Earth tech is hardly up to par with Cybertronian tech."

"I think we could pull it off," I piped in, raising a servo and continuing when Optimus looked to me. "We do have a resident Earth tech expert with us almost all the time." I motioned toward Raf, who was typing away at his laptop in the process of ridding our systems of a few bugs. "Given enough time, it should be doable. If not, what do we lose in trying?"

"Time. Resources. Energon." Ratchet pointed out.

"You're just bursting with optimism," I said flatly, giving him a flat look, though I could feel my optics sparkling with my teasing.

Ratchet shook his helm, waving his servo at me as if to push my sarcasm away. "Tch. I'm just saying if it fails it'll just be a waste," he said. "Of resources we could use to aid us elsewhere."

"But if it succeeded, we would have a valuable asset," I countered.

"One that would allow us to reach the Energon we detected on the moon less than two cycles ago," Pathbreaker added.

"Or anything else beyond Earth's atmosphere that might be of use," Arcee added.

"Without having to strain our poor Ground Bridge," Wheeljack put in.

"Hm, true," Ratchet said, looking thoughtful.

"I believe that it is a project worth undergoing," Optimus said after a few moments of silence. "I believe it will give us a slight edge over the Decepticons. But first we need a facility to accommodate it." He looked toward the human officials.

"I will see what I can pull in brass," Agent Fowler replied. "The fact you helped with the Dingus will help our case."

"In the meantime, I will get preparations for a remodel to include a hangar into your base underway," Hackett added, giving a slight nod. "I would also like a chance to speak to you further, about a possible alliance between the Autobots and S. H. I. E. L. D."

Optimus nodded. "We will be in touch," he said. "I must first consult with my senior officers."

"Understood," Hackett nodded.

"Any questions?" Optimus asked.

I raised my servo and Optimus nodded to me. "I have two. What's a 'Dingus'? "

"I can answer that one," Agent Fowler said. "The Dingus is a Dynamic Nuclear Device, aka Dingus. It is a prototype energy source, one that would irradiate all of Nevada plus the four states surrounding it in the case of a meltdown. While you three were rescuing the newcomers, the rest of the Autobots aided me in keeping out of a group called M. E. C. H.'s hands."

"M. E. C. H.?" Prowl asked.

Fowler shrugged. "We don't know much about them yet ourselves, but we'll be looking into it," he said. "What we do know is that they're a human terrorist group with similar ideals to Megatron from Optimus's input to the situation. Their leader calls himself 'Silas' and they are bent on getting the most high tech weaponry they can get their hands on. Including you all."

I felt a shiver run down my spinal strut at that. They didn't sound particularly pleasant.

"I will see what I can dig up at S. H. I. E. L. D. headquarters," Hackett put in.

"Which brings me to my second question," I said. "What's S. H. I. E. L. D.?"

"A joint naval operation between our nation and its allies," Hackett replied. "It was created to help promote peace between the nations of the world as well as to handle bigger problems your typical militia can't handle. You can expect to see us a lot while dealing with this M. E. C. H. problem. We will also be the ones responsible for the remodel project if it goes through. We are the only group authorized to work with you at all, after all. It's all still very classified."

And how much you want to bet there's some rich guy hacking away at his computer finding out everything they knew about us? That was a thought I kept to myself though.

"If there is nothing else," Optimus started and waited an appropriate amount of time before nodding. "You are all dismissed."

"Shadebreaker, I would like you to come to med bay, we have some lessons to go over," Ratchet said as the others dispersed.

"Coming," I said. "See ya later bro."

"I will talk to you later, sis," Pathbreaker nodded.

"Talk to you later, Shade'," Arcee said before heading off toward the elevator with my brother.

I grinned and waved to her. "See ya later."

I headed off to med bay with Ratchet. I felt I was coming along great in my studies with him and I was looking forward to the remainder, which I knew I still had a long way to go before being done.

**~Aboard the Nemesis, Normal PoV~**

Starscream looked down at the floor on the bridge, ignoring the bustle of the Vehicons as they piloted the ship as he thought. In his processor he could still see the helpless Autobot as he had taken his last breaths. He could also see in his mind's eye, Soundwave's ever watching presence in his peripherals, watching to make sure he did as he was commanded. Even with Megatron gone, he could not do as he really wished to do.

The seeker shook his helm and looked up as Laserbeak flew over. Dwelling on that would not help him right now.

"Soundwave wishes you to report to the war room," Laserbeak stated. A glint flashed across the femme cassette's optics. Something was up that the bird liked and Starscream wasn't sure he liked the thought.

"Tell him I will be there shortly," Starscream replied. He didn't want to go meet with Soundwave. He didn't want to be told what to do. He wanted to fly free, feel the wind under his wings without a care in the world.

"Best not keep him waiting." Laserbeak squawked.

Starscream sighed and started for the exit of the bridge. He thought about all the times he had been forced to do what he had not wanted to do. What would his brothers think of him? That he had allowed himself to be trapped in such a way? They had always looked to him, believing that he would get them through anything.

He shook his helm again as he drew near to the war room. His brothers weren't here. If they were, he would've found a way to maintain control over his own life, rather than remain on the second rung. He was Megatron's second-in-command, but even now he was not the one in charge. And he loathed that fact. Not even Soundwave was in charge, for he had to answer to someone above them both as well. If only he could…

His thoughts were cut off as he entered the war room to find Soundwave and Knockout looking at a holographic projection of the three newest Autobots. He had seen the seeker trio on the battlefield a couple times. He even fully crossed paths fully with the leader of the trio. They had stood, pointing their weapons at each other for a few minutes before something had made him lower his weapon and in surprise the Autobot had lowered hers as well.

**~Flashback, Normal PoV~**

Starscream stood, aiming his weapon at the Autobot seeker, the one he had determined to be the leader of the new Autobot trine. They were in the middle of a skirmish over some Energon and the both of them had been separated from the main battle. He had a few scratches and dents in him and she had a scorch mark on her right wing along with her own scratches and dents. Now they were in a stand off.

Starscream was ready to pull the trigger when their optics met. He could see her analyzing his every move and the purple and silver femme's unwillingness to shoot first. He saw in her optics compassion, a silent plea for him to lower his weapon so they could both walk away, a plea for...he wasn't sure what. He had the strangest sense that this Autobot held hope for Decepticons to change, just as he knew Optimus Prime had. Perhaps she was silently asking him to throw away being a Decepticon.

He couldn't. He wouldn't. There were so many reasons why it would be a bad idea. However, seeing that no one was watching, he lowered his weapon, hers lowering slowly in response. He locked optics with her again before transforming and flying away. His sensors picked up her standing there for a few more moments before heading back toward the main battle.

Inside of him, a spark of determination had come to light. A determination he had long thought extinguished.

**~End Flashback, Normal PoV~**

"You called?" Starscream asked, voice full of sarcasm and disdain.

"We did, actually," Knockout said, leaning forward, placing his servos on the table in front of him. "We have a mission for you."

Starscream internally sighed. He was called the second-in-command, so why was he the bottom rung?

"Well?" he asked after a few moments silence. "What is it?"

"Well, as you know, the Autobots have found a new trine," Knockout said. "Soundwave believes it imperative to capture at least one of them."

Starscream growled softly. He really hated his job.

**And the credit song for this chapter is Arrival by Neil Davidge for Halo 4. ****www .youtube watch?v=RJxfMl24BEc**


	10. Team Building

**A/N:** Well, this chapter took me forever in a day. But it is my longest chapter yet in any story I have ever written at a length of 18,155 wotds. I hope the length and the content will make up for the insane amount of time it has taken me to write this update.

I deeply apologize, I have several other writings I have been working on, including new stories that won't be released yet and my novel, and have been busy with work. Mostly though, I blame my distraction of watching a favorite anime of mine and playing games. And the case of writer's block I have struggled with.

Anyways, thanks go to Sci-Fifan95 for going over everything and helping me whenever I am stuck. :D

Hope you guys enjoy the chapter!

**Chapter 10: Team Building**

_~Wednesday, July 25, 2012~_

"You know what we haven't done in a while," Stormbreaker said as she leaned against the wall next to where I was typing on a console.

"What?" I asked, typing away with our brother watching over my shoulder.

"Play Escalation on WFC," she said.

I couldn't keep the grin off of my face.

"We won't need the game when we're done here," Pathbreaker said.

"What?" Stormbreaker asked.

"We are currently in the process of creating a simulation that mimics Escalation," I said. "Complete with destroyers and every known type of Decepticon faced during the war. Same increased difficulty with each wave idea and having to replenish ammo and such with points."

"What is the point of it?" Ratchet asked from his station next to mine where he was aiding me in the programming.

"No point really, though it could be considered training," I said. "It's for fun. And it is done." I leaned back in my seat and grinned up at my brother.

"Shall we test it out?" he asked, walking over and picking up a weapon he had specially designed for our course. He tossed it to me as I stood and I caught it easily.

"Of course," I said, putting the initial clip into the weapon.

"Count me in!" Stormbreaker called.

"If anyone comes by, they are welcome to join us as well," Pathbreaker told Ratchet, tossing a bow to our sister designed for this course. There was a special ammo depot programmed right next to every ammo depot that gave her arrows.

After getting one for himself, Pathbreaker led the way into the simulation chamber. Once the three of us were inside, I keyed in the code to activate our new program. As we stood in the middle of the room, it transformed around us.

The setting was pretty much just like the one in Escalation in War for Cybertron. We included the bridge overhead with the debris on it. Spawn points, where the enemies would be entering the area from, were included and so were the ammo depots.

In the middle of the room was a structure with a room on the ground floor with ammo depots and a grenade depot as well. The second floor was outside of the structure and there was a bridge that we could extend to connect it to the group of rooms on one side of the map. There was a third floor, up only a little bit from the second floor, that we would have to open the door to. Inside were some weapon depots where we would be able to exchange our weapons for other ones, as well an ammo depot where we would be able to restock on clips.

On one side, there were no doors, but just behind the bridge going across the top of the map, commonly referred to as 'our spot' in the game, a structure was attached to the wall and extended out, effectively blocking about half of the bridge from fire in one direction, also blocking our own shots in that direction from that half of the bridge. This structure held two floors of rooms. The ground floor held an ammo depot, a grenade depot and a weapon depot.

To reach the next floor we would have to open a door by using points or by hacking it-our chosen ways to open doors. Behind the door was a hallway ramp system and half way up was a depot with what was effectively a healing gun. We set it up so each hit we received the program kept tabs on the 'points of health' we have lost. The gun would restore the points a little at a time. The enemy weapons would give us a small shock when they hit and would also take away our health points. The gun's use would be to keep us in the game longer-if we chose to use it.

The top floor had a couple weapons depot and an ammo depot. One of the weapons in it was a Scrapmaker, one of our weapons of choice whenever we had played the game. The other was a Nucleon Charge Rifle, a sniper rifle that wasn't in the game, but described to me by Arcee as being a better sniper than my Energon Battle Pistol. Naturally I had wanted to try it out, so we programmed it into the map.

On the opposite wall was a series of rooms both on the ground floor and on a second floor. The ground floor rooms were accessible from the start, but there were doors we would need to open to reach the upper floor and a few doors to open to have access to every room. In one of the rooms on the upper floor was the control panel for the bridge.

The bridge at the top itself spanned from the wall with the series of rooms to the other wall with only the one structure on it. Half of the bridge was bare of anything, but the structure behind it gave cover from one direction and if we stood close to the structure we would be safe from shots from the other direction, though we also couldn't shoot anything from that far back. There was also a spawn point at the end of the bridge that we had it set so only certain types of enemies could spawn out of it and only starting after the third wave of enemies.

The third of the bridge directly after the first half was out in the open where we could shoot to or be shot at from either direction. This third also contained large pieces of debris which we could use for cover from one direction or the other, but not both. There was a small spot where one bot could stand and have cover from both sides where the debris overlapped the place covered by the structure, but it was still prone to attack from the second floor in the structure across the way.

The last two-ninths was pretty much a death trap. It was covered on both sides by structures and the debris in the previous third made it a difficult spot to get out of without taking flight. There was an enemy spawn point on the end with the same parameters as its opposite counterpart. It was pretty much a spot one would want to avoid. It gave great cover from everywhere else, but being a box at a spawn point had earned its title as the 'bad spot'-what I thought of it as.

There was a spawn point directly underneath the half of the bridge that had nothing on it. There was also one in each room of the structures that would activate whenever the room it was in was opened to us. There was also a spawn point taking up almost the entire walls perpendicular to the walls with structures along them.

After the map fully formed around us, I pressed the key to start the simulation. I readied my weapon, counting my extra clips I had.

"Should we go up to our spot?" Stormbreaker asked.

"Nah, not yet," Pathbreaker said. "We'll go after the first couple waves."

"Sounds good to me," I said, watching the counter count down to when the first wave would begin.

When the wave started, I looked around as we waited for the enemies to start spawning. It wasn't long before a horde of small spider-like bots with only six legs instead of eight started running at us. A squad of the most common Decepticon troopers also spawned throughout the round, a few at a time. The spiders were so easy we didn't even waste ammo on them, instead opting to step on, kick or use our melee weapons on them while we shot the troopers down.

There was a ten second period between waves for us to reload on ammo, health and put into any doors we wanted to. During the first ten second break we all replenished our ammo and we went to open the door on the side of the map with the structures all along the wall. Our points combined only got half way since we had to use a total of a hundred and fifty to replenish our ammo. The door that would lead to the Scrapmaker and Nucleon Charge Rifle we decided would be hacked to enter. It would save us points, but also meant we had to hack it during a round or very quickly.

"I am gonna get to hacking the door," I said as our countdown neared zero. "You two will watch my back, right?"

"Of course we will," Pathbreaker said, inserting a new clip into his default gun, a variety of the Neutron Assault Rifle.

"We got your back," Stormbreaker said, grinning.

I nodded and we darted back across the way to the single structure on the opposite side of the map. The countdown to the next wave hit zero just as I ran over the pile of debris half way across and enemies spawned almost immediately. I ducked a few shots on the way and kicked a couple spiders out of the way. As soon as I reached the door, I started hacking.

"Alright, I'm starting the hack," I reported as my siblings took up defensive positions behind me.

"We got you," Stormbreaker said.

As I worked on hacking the door, I heard several spider get squashed by my siblings and troopers try to take them out while getting downed rather quickly. I was about half way through the hack and a quarter of the way through the wave when we heard one of our fellow bots enter the map from the spawn point.

"I'm going to see who it is," Pathbreaker said. "Stay with Shade', sis." He ordered before I heard his footsteps heading away from us.

"You know…" Stormbreaker started, pausing as she brought her bow to bear on a trooper I couldn't see. "...it would be easier to just wait until we have the points."

"Where's the fun in that?" I asked as I worked. "This is more exciting. Besides, we're still early enough hacking isn't a death wish and it gives me practice."

"I'd rather we go to our spot," Stormbreaker said and I heard her violently kill a few spiders. "Why'd you have to put the spiders?!"

"Oh come on, they're harmless," I said, smiling to myself as I heard her growl at a group of four as she squished them one by one. "They're the least of our worries. Not even worth the single bullet it takes to kill them."

"Yeah well, they're annoying," Stormbreaker grumbled, shooting a trooper with her bow.

"What are annoying?" I heard Arcee's voice ask as a spider that had gotten by my sister suddenly exploded into light right next to me.

"These spiders! Ugh!" Stormbreaker said, sounding rather frustrated.

"Don't worry, they quit spawning when we reach wave six," I said.

I heard Stormbreaker growl again and Arcee gave an amused "hm."

"How are you doing on the hack?" Pathbreaker asked as he and Arcee took up defensive positions-Arcee near Stormbreaker and my brother taking cover next to the door back outside.

"Almost there," I said. After a few more minutes I was done. "And done."

"About time, we're down to just spiders," Stormbreaker said.

"Well when we have more points we can now get our second weapons," I said.

"For now, we will be going to our spot," Pathbreaker said. "Would you care to join us Arcee?"

"Where is your spot?" Arcee asked as my siblings replenished their ammo and I started squishing the remaining spiders. They decided to let me have them since I didn't get any other kills this wave.

"It's up there," I said, pointing to the bridge above us. "The best cover is up there and we can also see the whole map. In the game it has always been where we survive the longest during the later waves."

"Especially during the later waves," Stormbreaker said.

"Sure, why not?" Arcee said. "Beats being the only one staying down here. How do we get up there?"

"We fly," Pathbreaker said as I stepped on the last spider. "One of us can give you a ride."

"I'll do it!" Stormbreaker volunteered, transforming into her jet mode.

I chuckled as Arcee climbed on top of my sister. I transformed as well, having no need to replenish anything, and flew ahead of my siblings and Arcee to our spot to claim a position. I stood right next to where there would be cover from both sides, as I liked being able to move back and forth between our main area and the other third of the bridge we used.

"So what enemies are in wave three?" Stormbreaker asked once we were all a top.

"Troopers and spiders are still present," I answered, watching the countdown. It was on five.

"Cloakers and Rocket Troopers also start spawning this round," Pathbreaker said. "I will watch this spawn point next to us. But if I miss any, feel free to shoot them."

"You put a spawn point right inside your spot?" Arcee asked.

"It makes it more interesting," Pathbreaker said, shrugging.

"Especially since the enemies that spawn there are Rocket Troopers," I said. "Not paying attention can cost ya."

"Sounds fun," Arcee said as the countdown hit zero.

**~Area 51, Southern Nevada, Normal PoV~**

Admiral Hackett walked down a corridor with Agent Fowler. They were heading to meet a man who could potentially aid with their mission.

"Are you sure he will be willing to cooperate?" Fowler asked, voicing his skepticism. "I doubt Stark will work with us if he thinks we've stolen his tech."

"We haven't stolen his tech, Agent Fowler," Hackett replied. "And I have no doubt he will notice the technology we will be showing him isn't made by human hands. He will understand the threat."

"But will he understand that not all of them are enemies?" Fowler asked.

"That's why you are here, Agent Fowler," Hackett replied. "You brought the files on them?"

"I did," Fowler said. "Though I am not convinced allowing him to know of the seeker's history as human is wise."

"Tony Stark is a genious, Agent Fowler," Hackett said. "And no doubt he will have contact with the Autobots at some point. You said yourself that the three have no qualms about telling their allies the truth about their past. He will find out on his own if we do not tell him. And he might be able to help us develop a better way to protect humans from the effects of Energon."

"Understood, Admiral," Fowler replied. "In that case I will go set up. I will speak to you whenever you decide the time is right to tell Stark."

"Of course Agent Fowler," Hackett replied.

The two parted ways and Hackett continued on the way to the briefing room they had Tony Stark waiting. When he arrived, the guards outside allowed him inside and he couldn't help but be amused by the staredown going on between the two men sitting at the table.

"Mr. Stark I don't think you understand the threat we are dealing with," Theodore Galloway, National Security Advisor to the president, said.

"No you don't understand," Stark replied. "I am not building you weapons. Especially not if you won't even tell me what we're dealing with."

"That's classified information," Galloway said.

"I believe I will decide what Mr. Stark will be told, Mr. Galloway," Hackett said, making his presence known. "Who the hell let you in here?"

"I am the president's advisor, I go where I wish," Galloway countered, standing.

"And we've been warned about you," Hackett said, not being intimidated. "All you want is weapons of mass destruction. That is not why Mr. Stark is here. Now make this easy and leave the building or my men will escort you out."

"We wouldn't be in this pickle if your friends weren't here," Galloway said, grabbing his jacket.

"You have a right to your opinion, sir," Hackett said. "But this is my debriefing room and I make the decisions what happens in my task force. The Autobots have made it clear we are not to use their technology for weapons. We are not recruiting Mr. Stark to subdue that arrangement."

"It's a mistake if you ask me," Galloway said, making his anger clear. "One day they're gonna turn on us."

"Your concern is noted," Hackett said. "Now are you leaving or do we have to throw you out like Captain Lennox did when you tried to subdue his mission in Egypt?"

Galloway bristled visibly. "Just so you know, I will have the Captain court martialed for that."

"Sure you will," Hackett said as Galloway was pushed out of the room by the guards.

"The president will hear about this!" Galloway called from the hall just as a young man in military garb walked into the room.

"So," Stark said, bringing the admiral's attention to him. "If I am not here to make weapons, which I do not do anymore, then why am I here?"

"You are here to help us make better ways to keep our men from being hurt," Hackett replied. "It's all about defense, not offense. You would be a great asset to our mission. We face a special kind of enemy. One that requires special kinds of allies."

"I'm not agreeing to anything until you tell me what it is that Galloway wouldn't tell me," Stark replied.

Hackett looked at Stark for a moment, analyzing him. He then motioned toward the door. "If you would follow me, Mr. Stark, all will be revealed," he answered.

**~Simulator, Autobot Base, Outskirts of Jasper, Nevada, Shade's PoV~**

"Cloaker about to shoot at you," I said. "Your ten o'clock, sis."

Stormbreaker backed up on the bridge just as a Plasma Cannon shot whizzed by where she had been peeking over the edge of the bridge to shoot at an enemy underneath our bridge.

"Rocket on our left," Pathbreaker reported.

I looked over in time to see him gun down a rocket trooper in vehicle form just as Arcee kicked the helm off of another rocket trooper. I smirked a bit even as I gunned down the third one that had spawned there.

"How many are left in this wave?" Stormbreaker asked, firing an arrow into the helm of a cloaker.

"Nice shot," I said, looking at the fallen cloaker before it dissipated. "As for your question, I am not sure. It looks like they are still spawning." As I spoke, I aimed my Nucleon Charge Rifle I had gotten between waves at a rocket trooper on the ground.

"I think we're getting close to the point limit of this wave," Pathbreaker said as I took of the helm on the rocket trooper.

"I definitely like this gun better for sniping," I commented as I backed up to reload.

"We have a few in our armory," Arcee said.

The rest of the wave went pretty fast. When it was just down to the spider bots scurrying around, we killed all but one. I ran around distracting the spider while the others replenished their ammo and Stormbreaker got a Subsonic Repeater to try out.

After they got all of what they needed, Pathbreaker took over distracting the spider by kicking it lightly with his pede. While he did that, I went and replenished my own ammo as well as depositing my points in the next door we wanted to open. After I was done with that, my brother stomped on the spider and the four of us returned to our spot.

"This is fun," Stormbreaker said, a grin on her face. "It's been so long since we've done something just to do it."

I grinned back. "It has," I said. "It's nice to just kick back, relax and shoot some virtual butt instead of real butt."

"I never had the time to relax before," Arcee said. "Not since the war started."

"We'll have to fix that," I said, glancing up at the timer to see how many microkliks were left until the fifth wave started. It would start in about two microkliks.

"Definitely! We all need to relax sometimes," Stormbreaker said, checking the ammo on her weapons despite having just reloaded.

Arcee smirked. "And shooting virtual 'Cons is relaxing," she said.

"And here I thought making new weapons with me was relaxing," Pathbreaker joked, his voice set in a dry deadpan.

"That's relaxing, just not in the way this is." Arcee smiled.

"You say that like hanging out with me is inferior to shooting fake Decepticons," my brother observed, faceplate blank, but with smiling optics.

The blue and pink femme pretended to shrug indifferently. "Well, sometimes people just can't compare to a video game."

"I feel so wanted," Pathbreaker drawled.

I glanced over at the others and smiled to myself as I listened to my brother and Arcee banter. I had noticed them getting close to each ever since they had been stuck in the Antarctic with Optimus. I wasn't sure exactly what it would mean in the future, but I was happy that they were getting close. I also found it uncanny how similar it was to the banter they shared in Pathbreaker's old story he was writing before we ended up here.

"What's so funny?" Stormbreaker asked as I broke into chuckles as she stepped up next to me.

I pointed toward our brother and Arcee. "Them," I said. "Remind you of anything?"

Stormbreaker glanced over to our two fellow Autobots and then looked back at me with a grin. "How much you want to bet they end up together, like he was going to do with his character in FC?" she asked.

I gave her a flat look, well as flat as it could get with amusement written all over my face. "I do not bet on other's relationships," I answered.

Stormbreaker shook her helm, laughing. Whether she was laughing at my poor attempt to not show my amusement at her prediction or at the fact our brother and Arcee's banter was quite humorous was up in the air.

My thoughts were interrupted when the wave started with a number of seekers flying in, one of which went directly for doing a bomb drop on our location. I quickly dodged as Pathbreaker shot it down before it got much further than where I had been standing.

I switched to the automatic weapon I had started out with and fired at one of the four other seekers that had spawned right off the bat. They were all too close to use the Nucleon Charge Rifle as it was better for long distance, where I would have enough time to aim. A few shots hit the wings before I landed a shot on one of the wings, tearing it off the seeker's body. I smirked to myself as the seeker plummeted toward the ground, exploding in a shower of light as it hit the ground below the bridge.

"Up, up up," I heard my brother say and I looked over just as a seeker exploded into light just short of where he was standing. "Why do they always go after me?"

"Because they think you look tasty," I said, grinning as my statement sent Stormbreaker into a laughing fit, causing Arcee to have to shoot the Rocket Trooper behind her so it didn't take her down in her laughing fit.

"You realize you basically just called your own frametype cannibals, right?" Pathbreaker deadpanned.

I grinned as I looked over the map to see where the other enemies were. I was just switching to my Nucleon Charge Rifle when an explosion behind me knocked me off my pedes and over the edge with a bunch of flailing limbs.

"Whoa!" I said, transforming before I hit the ground and immediately flying back to the bridge, dodging several bullets and being hit by a few, sending small electrical shocks through the areas I was hit.

"That was very graceful of you," Pathbreaker commented on my very ungraceful fall.

"Oh shush," I said, glaring at him, though my mouth twitched in an amused smile. "I was snuck up on."

I looked around to make sure there were no more immediate threats in the form of Rocket Troopers spawning in our spot or Seekers spawning in the map. When I found none, I turned and looked through the scope on the Nucleon Charge Rifle. I found a disturbance in the air that was clearly a Cloaker and shot. I missed the 'Con's helm, but I did hit its shoulder, taking down the cloak before firing another shot as it attempted to flee. The second shot hit right next to where the spark would've been and the Cloaker fell, exploding into a shower of light.

I looked up in time to see a Seeker spawn across the map and then aimed my weapon at it. I patiently waited as I lined up a shot directly where its helm was hidden beneath armor and then fired. The bullet pierced the armor, but didn't quite reach the target, merely slowing the Seeker's progress as it straightened out from being knocked out of balance. I waited until I had a second shot lined up in the same spot and then fired again, taking the Seeker down before it could get close enough to cause any problems.

I looked around my scope just in time to hear the door to the simulator open below our bridge. I turned my helm, poking it over the edge to see who was entering. Below were Jazz and Prowl, Prowl not looking entirely happy, which probably meant Jazz had dragged him into this. I grinned to myself and then shot a 'Con that was running toward the two mechs.

"We got more company," I reported. "Cover me while I go fetch them."

"Will do, sis," Stormbreaker answered.

With that settled, I flung myself over the edge of the bridge, holding onto the edge so I swung beneath it. I landed a little heavier than I had intended and stumbled off of the destroyed tank that had served as my landing spot.

"Omf!" I let out as I face-planted on the ground.

"That was the most graceful landing ever!" I heard my sister call from above.

Jazz's laughter reached my audios as I got up and brushed myself off, knocking the swarming spiders away from me as my fellow Autobots laid down covering fire from above. My wings twitch to show my displeasure at the teasing and if I were still human I would've been blushing, instead my cooling fans kicked on a notch.

"I apologize for interrupting your session," Prowl said.

I waved him off. "Nah, we were hoping to be joined," I said. "Arcee's joined us a few waves ago. We're all up in our spot. I came down to give you a lift."

"Why do we need a lift?" Prowl asked, his doorwings shifting ever so slightly, a subtle sign that he did not like the idea that a lift would require physical touch.

"Our spot is up there," I said, pointing up before pausing to grab the Trooper that had ran up beside me to attempt a physical confrontation. I turned, slamming the Trooper into the tank beside me before shooting its helm off with my default weapon. "I can transform and you can ride on top of me. I would not want to make you uncomfortable. If you wish to stay on the ground, you can, but I recommend joining us."

"Ah'll join ya," Jazz was quick to say.

With that I transformed and waited for Jazz to climb on before slowly flying around to head back up. I fired a couple missiles from my alt mode at a group of 'Cons that had been heading our way, taking them out as Jazz grabbed Prowl's servo to pull him up with us. Since I had not been expecting him to do that, I wobbled, tilting to the side Prowl was on.

"Jazz!" I heard Prowl say. "This is not a good idea."

"Oh come on, Prowlers," Jazz grinned. "It saves her a second trip."

I grumbled slightly as I forcibly straightened back out, thankful that Jazz had a good grip on Prowl and flew up to the bridge. Once I was above the bridge I rolled to drop Jazz unceremoniously onto the bridge, consequently dropping Prowl as well, ending with Jazz on top of the poor mech.

"Sorry, Prowl," I apologized. "Jazz is just too heavy."

"Are you calling me fat?" Jazz asked with mock hurt as he got up, helping his friend up as well.

"Maybe," I said, smirking as I transformed and landed. I felt something hit my helm and looked to see a dead stun grenade hit the floor of the bridge.

"Don't call Jazz fat, it's not nice," Stormbreaker said, servos on her hips.

"He's the one who decided I could carry both him and Prowl at the same time," I deadpanned.

"Ya did," Jazz pointed out.

"It would've been wise to inform both her and myself of your plan beforehand," Prowl stated, checking his weapon over in order to understand it. "You are lucky I didn't shoot you."

Jazz placed a servo over his spark in mock hurt. "Prowlers! I'm hurt that you would shoot meh!" he said.

Prowl's doorwings twitched. "Don't call me that," he said. "My name is Prowl, not 'Prowlers'."

I gave Prowl a sympathetic look as I turned to return to sniping. I took up a position on my belly right next to the debris, resting the end of my Nucleon Charge Rifle on the edge of the bridge. I moved my aim until I found a Rocket Trooper running around on the ground. I lined up a shot on its helm and was about to pull the trigger when it fell.

"Hey!" I protested. "I had a perfect shot on that guy!" I pouted over at the others.

Jazz grinned, proving that he was the obvious culprit with the gleam behind his visor. "Sorry 'bout dat!"

"No you're not," Pathbreaker said matter-of-factly.

Jazz grinned and I just rolled my optics as my sister laughed. I couldn't help but chuckle when Stormbreaker suddenly grew awkward when Jazz walked over to join her in fighting in her area. It wasn't hard to tell she had developed some sort of feelings for the mech and wasn't sure how to react to them. In a way, I was a bit jealous of them, having bots they could potentially have a future with. But I didn't dwell on it; if I was meant to be with a bot, I would find one.

Meanwhile, I aimed my rifle at another virtual Decepticon and shot their helm off.

**~Storage Area 23, Area 51, Southern Nevada, Normal PoV~**

Admiral Hackett waited about ten feet away from the door between the room they were in and the hallway on the other side. He stood a few feet away the remains of Decepticons that filled the room. While they were prevented from making weapons out of their findings by the treaty with the Autobots, they studied the technology in hopes of furthering other aspects of technology—environmentally safe cars and general advancements that would wreak less havoc on the environment while at the same time be more efficient.

Hackett was waiting for Tony Stark to finish his examinations of the remains. Every now and then the former weapons engineer would make a comment about the kind of technology he was looking at. After several minutes Stark walked back over toward Hackett.

"You need to tell me where all this came from, because it is clearly not made by humans," Stark said. He waved his hands at the remains. "A lot of this is more advance than even my technology, so I can't even accuse you of stealing my tech. So spill it big guy. What's your secret?"

"I am sure you heard about the incident in Shamsi back in 2007," Hackett said, watching Stark for his reaction.

"Yeah, I did," Stark said. "A giant robot crashed right next to it. It took out several U.S. soldiers and the government covered it up, made it look like an asteroid hit the center of the base."

Hackett nodded. "That was a crashing alien from another planet," he reported. "A Decepticon sent to scout our world to see if it was useful. He's now sitting behind you."

Stark looked back at the remains of the Decepticon with his usual detachment, then back at Hackett. "Let me guess, they found something they wanted and more arrived."

Hackett nodded. "More Decepticons arrived and on their tail the Autobots arrived," he said. "At first we thought they were enemies as well. Until they saved a squad of soldiers from a Decepticon strike on their camp."

"That's the second time you've mentioned Autobots," Stark said. "Who exactly are they?"

"If you would follow me to the debriefing room, we will explain everything to you in more detail," Hackett said, already turning to head out the door.

Stark looked like he might protest being taken to another room, but he shrugged and followed behind. He could just hack into their database and find out anything Hackett didn't tell him. He wouldn't agree to anything until he knew what he was being asked to do.

Hackett led Stark through numerous halls until he reached the debriefing room Agent Fowler had gone to set up. When he led the genius into the room, Agent Fowler was struggling with a projector, trying to get it to work.

"In the name of Uncle Sam's beard, work!" Fowler growled and smacked the projector.

"I don't think that's gonna fix it," Stark commented off-handedly as he looked around the room.

"Now I understand why Ratchet is always grumbling about our tech," Fowler said. "It never works right."

"Is everything ready to debrief Mr. Stark?" Hackett asked.

"As soon as I get this thing to work," Fowler said, adjusting a couple things on the projector. He set it down and it started to work before dying. "For Lady Liberty's sake! Is it too much to ask for a new projector?!"

"Here, let me see it," Stark said, walking over. He picked up the projector and tweaked a few things before setting it back down and pressing the 'on' button.

The projector whirled to life and displayed an image on the white screen Fowler had set up in front of it. The image was of a file on the Autobots, detailing a report about first contact.

"So what am I looking at here?" Stark asked, leaning against the table the projector was sitting on. He picked up a pen and started clicking it like a child who couldn't sit still during class.

"This is the report filed by then Second Lieutenant Lennox back in 2007, when the Autobots saved his squad from a Decepticon attack," Fowler answered.

"His squad was stationed in Shamsi to help locate and take out the threat that arrived a few weeks before the Autobots arrived," Hackett said. "They were returning from patrol when a Decepticon by the name of Dead End attacked them."

"Lennox lost two of his squad before a large blue and pink robot by the name of Arcee," Fowler started to continue the story.

Fowler pressed a button on a remote and the image changed to show a picture of Arcee locked in combat with Dead End, taken by Corporal Epps at the scene. Stark blinked at the image and the obvious differences between Arcee and Dead End that looked distinctly like gender differences.

Stark tilted his head at the image, still blinking. "Do they have genders? Because I know of no men with hips and a chest like that. Well, besides Obadiah. At least on the chest part. Always told him to lose weight."

"Yes, Mr. Stark," Fowler replied, ignoring Stark's other comments. "They have genders. There are currently three female Autobots on Earth and eleven male Autobots on Earth."

Stark blinked for a moment. "But they're robots," he said. "Robots don't have gender."

"As stated previously, they are aliens from another planet," Hackett pointed.

"And they prefer the term 'autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron'," Fowler supplied. "It's not a good idea to call them robots to their faces."

Stark stared for another moment at the picture, specifically Arcee, before turning toward Fowler—he seemed to have experience with them. "Do they, you know, make babies?" he asked.

Fowler coughed and looked a little awkward. "Well, uh, that's not really something I have asked the bots," he said, envying Hackett's ability to look unphased. "But presumably, they have the ability. Their race has been around longer than the Earth itself."

"Huh," Stark said, looking thoughtful.

"We've gotten off track here, Mr. Stark," Hackett pointed out.

"Oh yes, please continue," Stark answered.

"The fight itself only lasted a few minutes," Hackett noted, pointing out the timestamp on the picture and then the one taken at the end of the fight. "Dead End wasn't much of a threat to Arcee."

"She a good fighter, then?" Stark asked.

Hackett gave him a flat look. "Very."

"After Arcee saved Lennox's squad, we made first contact with the team," Fowler picked up from where he had left off. He changed the picture to show the six Autobots that had made up the team back then. "Ever since we have had a tentative alliance with them and we even have experienced three years hearing nothing from the Decepticons. During that time the Autobots mostly searched for resources to sustain themselves and aided us in advancing some of our technologies."

"I recall you saying they wouldn't allow you to make weapons with their technology," Stark commented, looking at Hackett curiously.

Hackett nodded. "It is part of our agreement," he said. "Idiots like Galloway are always trying to get them to budge, but Optimus Prime refuses. He believes giving us their weapons will do more harm than good."

"Who's Optimus Prime?" Stark asked.

"Their leader," Hackett answered, nodding toward the image of the Prime. "He was the one who agreed to helping develop some of our technology, and refuses to allow us to examine most of theirs."

"Well, I can't blame him there," Stark said.

"I can't say that I do either," Fowler replied. He turned to the screen and clicked a button to show a picture of the Nemesis. "Recently the Decepticons have become more active and the Autobots have foiled their plots a number of times since their re-emergence. They have suffered loss in protecting Earth from this threat, but their team has also grown in recent months." The picture changed to show the fourteen current residents.

"Wasn't there a red one before?" Stark asked, analyzing the photo.

Fowler nodded and changed the photo to show Cliffjumper's file. "His name was Cliffjumper," he reported. "He was lost a few months ago when the Decepticons reared their ugly heads from wherever they were hiding. He was a little hot headed and a good fighter. Unfortunately he had a habit of jumping into things without backup. Ultimately that habit got him captured and killed by Starscream." He switched the picture to show the Decepticon seeker.

"In Megatron's absence, Starscream has been running the Decepticons," Hackett explained. "He is unpredictable, which makes him a dangerous foe. It is unknown why he laid in silence those three years."

"Can I get a head count of who we'll be working with and who is our enemy?" Stark asked. "If I'm to help with anything, I will not be kept in the dark."

Hackett and Fowler shared a look before Fowler looked back at Stark. "We anticipated that, so I took the liberty of creating dossiers," Fowler answered. "We'll start with Optimus Prime, the leader of the bunch."

Fowler changed the picture to show the file on Optimus. "Optimus Prime is a steadfast leader and from what I can tell, all of the Autobots under him admire him. He inspires the kind of loyalty that would have you jumping off a bridge if he asked it, if only because there would be something there to catch you or he wouldn't ask it of you."

Fowler played a clip of Optimus in one of the skirmishes. It was clear that Optimus did his best to be sure no bot under his command came into anymore harm than necessary.

"He's led the Autobots through the war since the beginning and eventually led them here when the Decepticons began to threaten our planet," Hackett added. "He's proven to be very determined to keep our planet from suffering the same fate as Cybertron."

"What happened to Cybertron?" Stark asked.

"It was ravaged by war and can no longer support life," Fowler replied. "Optimus has made it clear he does not intend to allow that to happen to us. It is part of the reason he refuses to allow us access to their weapons technology."

"I noticed those corpses seemed to be stripped of some of their technology," Stark said. "I'm assuming that's their doing."

Hackett nodded. "Before being shipped here, the Autobots salvage what they need and remove anything that could be turned into a weapon," he replied. "With such limited resources they can use, they have to get certain supplies anyway they can."

"None of them seem particularly happy about cannibalizing their fellow Cybertronians," Fowler said. "Even if they are evil."

Fowler changed the picture to show the file on Arcee. "You saw Arcee earlier," he said. "She's significantly smaller than some of the others, but she's no less deadly to the enemy."

He played a clip, showing Arcee in the simulator and her score was shown in the top left corner. The score was nearing nine thousand and going up as each second passed be. She moved swiftly and gracefully with a deadly precision that Stark couldn't help but admire.

"A femme of few words, she gets the job done without question, and gets it done well. She was partnered with Cliffjumper before he was killed, and was hit hardest when he passed. She is guardian to Jackson Darby, a civilian who got caught up in the mix when he and Rafael Esquivel witnessed a battle between the 'Bots and 'Cons." He switched the picture to one of Jack riding on Arcee's motorcycle form into base.

"You guys have civilians involved in this? Children?" Stark asked.

"The Decepticons assumed they were allies of the Autobots when they witnessed the fight," Hackett answered. "Optimus feels it best to keep the children under their protection. If the Decepticons went after them, they would be helpless."

"Besides Jack, there is also Rafael," Fowler said, displaying a picture of Raf looking concentrated on a laptop. "He's a lot like you, Stark, minus the womanizing. He provides a lot of technical support for Ratchet, since he has problems with the human technology filling their base. At twelve, I would say he is quite impressive."

"His guardian is Bumblebee, the team scout," Hackett added as Fowler put up a picture of the yellow and black mech with Raf sitting on his shoulder.

"While Arcee is a bot of few words, Bumblebee doesn't speak at all, that we can understand," Fowler provided. "For good reason. The poor kid got his voicebox ripped out back during the war by Megatron himself. It was damaged beyond repair and Bumblebee only speaks in beeps and whistles because of it. Only the bots and Rafael can understand him. The warrior in training has more than proved himself in battle, you gotta wonder why he hasn't been promoted." Fowler played a clip of Bumblebee taking on a whole squad of Vehicons by himself before being backed up by a larger mech that was mostly an army green.

"The big guy is Bulkhead," Hackett supplied as Fowler paused the clip and zoomed in on Bulkhead.

"Bulkhead and I don't always see eye to eye," Fowler explained. "When I first learned of the kids' involvement, he went as far as to break the telephone to keep me from taking them into custody. He's the first to admit he's no rocket scientist, but what he lacks in brain power, he more than makes up in brute strength." He paused to play a clip of Bulkhead pummeling a larger Decepticon, coming out of the match on top. "He is guardian to the last of the civilians who have become involved, Miko Nakadai." A pictured appeared of Miko with a guitar in her hands.

"Miko, from what I understand of Optimus and Fowler's reports, is the reckless one of the bunch," Hackett supplied. "Often running after the bots through the Ground Bridge and right into the middle of a battle ground. Despite this, the Autobots have done a considerable job to keep her from harm. Though all attempts to keep her in base seem doomed to failure." A clip played of a purple and silver female with wings trying, and failing, to catch Miko before the young girl disappeared through the Ground Bridge.

Fowler paused and zoomed in on the femme, who looked slightly panicked about Miko's determination to join the fray. "One of the Autobots newest additions, Shadebreaker is often the one to first notice Miko trying to follow her guardian into battle," he supplied.

"She is one of three interesting cases among the Autobots," Hackett supplied. "But we will cover them last, as they will take a bit more explaining." He looked at Fowler, who nodded and changed the picture to show a red and white mech with a crest on his helm.

"The science aspect is covered mostly by Ratchet," Fowler said. "The medic of the team, he can be tightly wound and is known for throwing wrenches and having a terrible bedside manner. He brings his a-game when the situation calls for it, but he is mostly in a supportive role."

Fowler played a clip of Ratchet working in the medbay, repairing some damage done to one of the bots. Stark could see what he had meant when he said the doc has a terrible bedside manner as the mech didn't seem to have much sympathy for his patients.

"Recently, the Autobots have added a set of twins to their team, known as Sunstreaker and Sideswipe," Hackett reported.

Fowler changed the picture and showed a picture of a red mech side by side with a yellow mech. The red mech had a huge grin plastered on his face while the yellow seemed to have an eternal scowl. "They are quite the mischievous pair, known for their pranks," Fowler said. "Despite their immaturity off of the battle field, on it they are quite the force to be reckoned with. They're frontliners and I certainly wouldn't want to be on their bad side." A clip played of them tearing up a battlefield just on their own.

"You called them twins?" Stark asked.

"I believe Ratchet described them specifically as split spark twins," Fowler answered. "I'm not entirely sure how that makes them different from regular twins."

Stark bit the end of the pen he held in thought.

"Next on the line up is Ironhide," Fowler said, bringing up a picture of an all black mech. "Their Weapons Specialist, Ironhide maintains the armory and knows every weapon inside and out. He packs a punch on the battlefield and is one of the most intimidating members of Optimus's team. He is not one you want to aim a weapon at."

A clip was played of Ironhide on the battlefield. His favorite weapons seemed to be a couple large cannons mounted on his arms and at one point in the clip he ripped one of the larger Decepticons in two with his bare hands.

"Prowl is Optimus's second-in-command and a very strict law enforcer," Hackett continued as Fowler changed the picture to show Prowl's file. "He's by the book down to the dots and is a very capable soldier."

"Prowl runs almost entirely on logic," Fowler said. "If something is too illogical, he'll crash." He played a clip of Prowl freezing and falling over as some of the other bots hovered over his fallen frame. "It's like an overrun computer with a glitch in its system. Ratchet has said that his logical center is overdeveloped, causing this glitch that causes him to crash when faced with extreme illogicalness."

"Jazz is the sabotage expert," Hackett said as the picture changed to that of the saboteur. "He's also quite a good spy."

"I wouldn't want him to have cause to blackmail me," Fowler said. "He's a reliable soldier. He likes to speak in a southern accent, though if he drops it that's when you know it's gotten serious. He's fun-loving and Prowl's polar opposite. Despite this, the two seem to be very good friends. He's also one of the best soldiers I've ever met."

A clip played of Jazz casually talking with the other bots. It was clear he was one of the more cheerful bots and to Stark it appeared that he was hitting on one of the femmes. The femme he was hitting on said something and Jazz burst into laughter before the clip changed.

"The next one on our list is a mech named Wheeljack," Hackett explained as Fowler played a clip of Wheeljack working on something before it exploded. "He is known for having his first prototype of anything explode."

"If he invented a pen, it would explode," Fowler put in. "As the Autobot's inventor, it is wise to stay out of his lab while a project is underway. He's created a number of useful gadgets for the Autobots, sometimes aided by the mech named Pathbreaker. The Autobots are equipped with personal shields created by Wheeljack and Pathbreaker. I have heard numerous recountings of other inventions the mech has created before, during and after the war on Cybertron."

"He will likely be one of the ones you work with most if you agree to join our alliance," Hackett stated, looking at Stark.

"Springer is the next," Fowler said, changing the picture to one of the green triple changer. "He's a Wrecker, same unit as Bulkhead and Ironhide. The Wreckers are like the U.S. Special Ops. They operate separate from the chain of command, but they have declared loyalty to Optimus Prime. Unlike Bulkhead and Ironhide, however, Springer is not always easy to be around. Especially if there is a femme nearby. On a number of occasions, he's suffered harsh words and punishments, because many of his crude comments made about one of the femmes on base are sometimes viewed as a threat to unit cohesion."

A clip played where Springer was clearly hitting on Arcee, with the femme looking none too pleased about the mech's attempted advances. After a couple sentences, a black mech walked by, slapping Springer on the back of the head as he passed. He shared a greeting with Arcee before continuing on his way.

"That black one wants to make babies with her," Stark commented. A thoughtful look crossed his face, and he asked, "How _do_ they make babies?"

Fowler looked momentarily confused before rolling his eyes, dragging a hand down his face.

"Outside of his personal issues, Springer is a good soldier and he gets the job done when no bot else can," Hackett said, rerouting the conversation to G-rated instead of R-rated. "He's reliable on the battlefield."

"Just don't let him near your girlfriend," Fowler said, humor in his voice.

"The next three we are about to tell you about are unique cases," Hackett continued.

"We've all taken to calling them the Breakers," Fowler commented as he brought a picture with a large all black mech standing center, the one who had slapped Springer in the back of the head. On the mech's left stood Shadebreaker and on his right stood the femme Stark had seen Jazz hitting on earlier. All three had wings on their backs, though the mech appeared to have wheels as well.

"So what's so unique about them?" Stark asked, gnawing on his pen before picking up a notepad and scratching something on it.

Hackett and Fowler shared a look before looking back at the nonchalant billionaire genius leaning against the table.

"What makes them so unique, Mr. Stark," Hackett explained. "Is that they used to be human."

Stark paused in whatever he was doing to look up. "Wait, what? How is that even possible?" he asked.

"We don't know," Fowler said, bringing up a picture of the three's holoforms, the only representation they had of the bots' former selves. "Ratchet has said nothing like it has happened before. Energon is poisonous to humans; it kills if one is exposed to it too long. Somehow, when these three were exposed to it, instead becoming ill and dying, they changed."

"It's the second time a human has been affected by Energon," Hackett reported. "In the first case, the soldier became ill within two hours of contact and died within a week. That was only a splash. These three practically swam in it. Our concern—and one of the reason we are recruiting you, Mr. Stark—is that it'll happen again and with no definitive answer on if it affects everyone the same, we'd rather not risk it at all. We are hoping to develop a way to protect our soldiers or anyone who may come in contact with Energon."

Stark nodded. "I can see your concern," he said. "What else can you tell me about these three?"

"We mentioned Shadebreaker earlier," Fowler said, bringing up a picture of the femme apparently snapped while she was fighting in some kind of simulated battle if the scattered light was any indication. She had a rather large hammer out, having apparently smashed the virtual enemy with it.

"Not much is known yet about her previous life, but she isn't one to hide things," Hackett supplied. "In fact one of the reasons we chose to inform you of her past as a human is because she made it clear she wouldn't deny it nor would she make up a fake story if she were asked about her origins."

"What we do know is that she considers her fellow Breakers as siblings despite them not having any real familial connections," Fowler continued the thought. "She can be very quiet at times, while at others being the most talkative of those present. She took longer to learn than the others, but she is a capable fighter now that her training is over. She is also learning how to be a medic from Ratchet, though I have not heard how that is going."

"She is very protective of her fellow bots, especially her sister," Fowler continued before playing a clip.

In the clip, Springer was trying to make an advance on the blue femme, moving closer to the bot before being cut off by Shadebreaker. Stark almost felt bad for the mech at the sight of the anger on the purple femme's face as she pointed a finger at the mech. Her interruption brought on an argument between the two that made it clear they hated each other. The argument had to be broken up by Prowl before the two glared at each other and parted ways.

"Her sister in arms is named Stormbreaker," Hackett moved onto the next member of the trio as Fowler changed the photo to one of the blue femme with a big grin on her face. "She has also proved to be quite the capable fighter, though she prefers long range to close quarters, utilizing an Energon bow with a variety of arrows."

A clip played of Stormbreaker using her bow in a battle. She did appear to be quite effective with it and Stark noticed that some of the arrows exploded while others seemed to have a different effect. One type seemed to disable an opponent long enough for Shadebreaker, who was next to her, to easily snipe their heads off.

"She can disable just about anything electronical," Fowler put in. "She's also a bit of a goof ball at times and has aided the twins in a few pranks. I've also heard she spends quite a bit of time in the bots' library alongside her sister."

"The last member of the Breakers is Pathbreaker," Hackett said as a picture was brought up of the mech clearly hard at work on a weapon of some kind. "He's the heavy weapons specialist."

"This mech carries the two most powerful weapons I've seen a single bot carry at a time," Fowler stated, bringing up a picture of Pathbreaker holding up his Nucleon Shock Cannon. "With double-layered armor and an arsenal that would send chills up anyone's spine, he's a walking tank. Like Ironhide, he's not one I would point a gun at unless I had a death wise."

"Pathbreaker is also a bit of an inventor," Hackett added. "He is known to be working on several weapons upgrades and possibly a few all new weapons."

"Over time he has become Arcee's new partner in arms," Fowler said, bringing up a video of the two.

The two were locked in battle with the Decepticons, working side by side to take the other side down. It was clear that they made a good team, covering each other's blind spots and it was like each one knew where the other would be most of the time. When the Decepticons were taken care of, the two bots met up and started speaking.

"Further proof that he wants to make robo babies with her," Stark commented with a completely straight face. Then his face became mildly displeased. "Still wondering how they would go about that."

Hackett sighed longsufferingly and motioned for Agent Fowler to continue with the debrief.

"The Breakers are a formidable force in battle," Fowler said, bringing up a video of the three in battle alongside Arcee, Bumblebee and Optimus. "They work together well and watch out for their fellow Autobots." In the video, it was easy to see how all of the members of the team were watching out for each other.

"Any one of the Autobots would be a formidable foe to anything we could dish out," Hackett pointed out. "But together, they would be impossible to defeat. They're much better equipped to fight the Decepticons than we are."

"Alright, that's all of the bots," Fowler said, changing the picture again to show the picture of the fourteen Autobots. "Do you have any questions?"

"Yeah, just a couple," Stark answered. "Those last three, they had wings but none of the others appeared to have any. None that looked like they would actually work anyway."

"That's because the two femmes are what are called seekers," Fowler replied. "They have the ability to fly utilizing their airborne alternate modes. Pathbreaker is a triple changer, as is Springer—they also have the ability to fly as well as having ground based alt modes on top of their airborne ones."

Stark hummed in acknowledgement.

"What is your other question?" Fowler asked.

Stark looked at him. "Is there anyway we could get a couple of them in here so I can ask them how they make robot babies?"

_This is going to be a long day, _Hackett thought to himself, trying not to sigh.

**~Simulator, Autobot Base, Jasper, Nevada, Shade's PoV~**

"Brute below us," I pointed out, looking over the edge at the large simulated Decepticon. "Which means the ammo room is probably safe, anyone else need ammo?"

"I'm running low," Ironhide said.

"That's cause you've been hogging all the kills," Stormbreaker pouted.

"Not all of 'em," Jazz said, grinning as he glanced over at the scoreboard.

"I need ammo as well," Pathbreaker said, switching out to his last clip.

"Go," Arcee said. "We'll keep the brute busy." She checked her clip and then hopped over the edge of the bridge.

I blinked down at her before shaking my helm. "Crazy femme," I commented. I was thankful she didn't make a habit of straying from our spot.

I laid down covering fire with the others while Arcee kept the brute busy so it didn't go after those going after ammo. We had made it to wave nine and most of the bots had joined us by now. Ironhide and Bulkhead had joined us in the sixth wave with Wheeljack joining us the next wave. Bumblebee has just joined at the beginning of this wave. Needless to say our spot was getting pretty crowded.

"I think next time we all participate we are going to have to use a different tactic," I said, not looking away from my scope as Wheeljack stepped over me to get a good shot on a seeker before it could bomb us. "It is crowded up here."

"No kidding," Stormbreaker said before shooting an arrow through the helm of the very shotgunner that I had been about to shoot.

"Kill steal," I told her before searching for a new target.

"I shot him first," Stormbreaker stated.

I glanced over at her with a pout before turning back to my scope.

It was only a short time before the others returned. After they got back, Stormbreaker, Bumblebee, Wheeljack and I went to replenish our own supplies. On the way back to our spot, I stopped to give Arcee a lift back up.

"Just give me a sec," Arcee said, dodging to the side as the brute swung its hammer down at her.

I waited, watching as Arcee made her way behind the brute as the large mech turned its attention to me as I backed up. I felt shots whiz past me as the other enemies tried to shoot me only to be shot down by our teammates up above. Arcee landed a fatal blow on the brute's back with her arm blades and jumped back out of range of the explosion the brute caused when dying. The explosion took out two cloakers that had apparently standing too close to it.

"That's the second brute down this wave," I commented. "Not too shabby."

"This reminds of the Battle of Iacon," Arcee said as she climbed on top of my alt mode. "Except there were a lot more brutes and a lot bigger enemies there."

"Sounds like a story I might like to hear," I said as I began flying us back to our spot.

"Maybe I'll tell you sometime when we're not being shot at," Arcee answered.

We made it back to our spot and Arcee jumped onto the bridge before I transformed and landed on it. I took my sniping position back up next to the debris, keeping my wings flat so they weren't a good target and also wouldn't get kicked by anyone trying to get around me.

The wave only lasted a few more minutes. We had already taken down most of the wave's point budget before Arcee took out the brute she had been distracting. After that most of what had been left were cloakers, shotgunners and a seeker, all of which didn't stand a chance against our team of ten.

"This is just too easy," Ironhide said, checking his clip in his gun.

"It'll get harder as the waves progress," Pathbreaker noted as he readied his own weapon for the coming wave.

"We made it to wave fifty in the game before with just Path' and I," I commented. "So we made sure to make it harder than in the game, at least starting this next wave."

"It also makes it easier when we are using this spot," Wheeljack pointed out. "Perhaps next time we can fight down there." He pointed down toward the ground.

"That could be fun, especially if all of us are participating again," Stormbreaker answered, readying an arrow as the timer counted down to zero.

Almost immediately when the wave started, about ten rocket troopers spawned in the spawn point next to us and several seekers spawned as well. I pretty much ignored anything spawning on the ground as I focused on sniping the seekers out of the sky before they could do a bomb drop.

"Sis, watch out!" Stormbreaker called and I looked up to see a seeker about to bomb the spot I was laying.

I knew I wouldn't have time to line up a shot to take it out, so I rolled away. I barely got out of the way in time and watched as my brother leapt over me to take the seeker out with his swords. Once hit, the seeker went careening into the wall behind the bridge, exploding in a shower of light.

"That was close," I commented, tone calm as if it was a normal thing to be rolling out of the way of bombs.

"Maybe you shouldn't lay still," Stormbreaker said as Arcee helped me to my pedes.

"I'm alright," I said. "But I am tired of laying there."

As the other took out the remainder of the first wave of seekers and rocket troopers, I found myself a new spot. I chose to stand where the debris overlapped the wall behind us and looked over the debris. I was open to being shot from the side toward the back or any rocket troopers spawning at the other side of the bridge, but Bulkhead was covering the side of the bridge behind the debris, where the structure didn't block, so I trusted him to shoot anything that shot at me.

As I turned my sights to the enemies on the ground, satisfied that we wouldn't have to worry about anymore seekers for a few more kills, I heard the door to the simulator open. In response, several of the enemies started heading toward the door and I started picking them off, sniping off their helms as they ran into my sights.

I heard a deep war cry and then searched out the source. The first of the heavy gunners were stepping into the fray, followed shortly by the second. The heavy gunners were one of the two largest of the enemies we had faced so far, including this wave. They were as tall as the brutes, but slimmer and each carried a large, four barrelled Ion Displacer, which were quickly turned on the bot who had entered the room.

"Springer! Up here!" Bulkhead call out and I groaned.

"You don't have to tell me twice!" Springer called back.

"Except when it comes to leaving my sister and friend alone," I muttered to myself where no one could hear, wings twitching. Why did it have to be him?

It wasn't long before the sound of transformation had me looking over my shoulder as Springer landed next to Bulkhead.

"The party has arrived," Springer said, hefting a weapon he likely picked up from the simulator arsenal right outside.

I rolled my optics and turned back to my sniping. Maybe if I just ignored him, it would be like he wasn't even there..

"Hey sweet cheeks, what do you say we stand together as we shoot the 'Cons?" I heard Springer say.

Arcee was about to respond when I turned and fired a shot next to Springer's helm, causing Jazz to duck underneath it. I probably should've made sure no one was standing in the way.

"No flirting on the battlefield," I said, glaring at the mech. "Unless you want to be shot."

Springer glared right back. "Shoot at me again, I dare you," he said. "I don't need no sniper wannabe telling me what to do. I will flirt with Arcee if I want to."

"Take a step toward either of them. I dare you," Pathbreak said, voice hard as stone as his cobalt optics stared coldly into Springer's light blue ones.

"Alright, alright, break it up," Ironhide said, stepping in between Pathbreaker and Springer. "We are also not here to hear you three bicker. Springer, go over and help Bulkhead cover the rear, Shadebreaker and Pathbreaker, you stay on this side of the bridge with the rest of us. Kapeesh?"

"Yes sir," Springer, Pathbreaker, and I all said and I moved to find a new sniping spot as Springer went back over to where Bulkhead was, while my brother stepped out more into the open to get clear shots as some enemies.

"Ya nearly shot me," Jazz pointed out when I joined him and my sister where they were positioned.

"I am sorry," I said sincerely. "I should've looked before I shot."

"'Cee can take care o' herself, ya know," Jazz pointed out as I took aim at the back of a brute who was running the other way, likely to a spot where he could shoot rockets at us.

"I don't want to deal with him hitting on her or my sister," I said. "You do the same when you catch him hitting on Storm'."

Jazz was silent a moment. "Touche," he said before turning to shoot a rocket trooper as a few spawned next to us.

"Wait, what?" Stormbreaker asked, clearly not being aware of Jazz's defense of her when she wasn't around.

"Nothing, sis," I said. "I'll tell you later."

I felt her optics on me for a few moments before she replied. "Ok," she said, seeing that I wasn't really in the mood for talking about it.

"Watch out!" Ironhide called.

I looked up in time to see a seeker flying toward us, clearing doing a bomb drop. I leapt out of the way, but miscalculated my jump and fell of the bridge. I felt someone catch my wrist and looked up to see Prowl as he pulled me back up. I sighed, thankful that Autobots looked out for each other.

"Thank you, Prowl," I said, nodding to him as I stood.

Prowl nodded his acknowledgement before returning to shooting the 'Cons.

As he did that and I went back to my new spot with the others, my brother took the seeker down with a burst from the Scrapmaker he had picked up several waves back. I ignored the rain of light as I searched the skies for anymore seekers in order to take them out before they became a problem. I found a couple, but both were taken out before I had a chance to shoot, so I returned to the ground troops.

The brute was still running around, clearly not able to decide where the best spot to fire at us was. I frowned in concentration as I focused on him, but not so much that I couldn't sidestep the shots being fired by the heavy gunners up at us. As Ironhide, Jazz, and my siblings focused fire on the two heavies, I focused on shooting the brute's back whenever it was visible. I noticed I wasn't the only one, but didn't bother to see who else was shooting it. It didn't matter who would get the kill in the end.

As we all focused on the big guys, the others focused on the little guys and keeping the bridge and sky clear of annoyances such as rocket troopers and seekers. After several clips, the heavies and brute all went down at around the same time. Once that was done, I checked my ammo and found I only had two clips left.

"I'm going for more ammo, anyone else need to join me?" I called.

"I need ammo, I never reloaded last round," Arcee replied.

**.:I need some as well,:.** Bumblebee said, checking his own weapon.

"I'll go over first, to make sure the room is clear," Pathbreaker said, placing a fresh clip in his Scrapmaker. "The big guys might've respawned in there."

"I'm going too in that case," Ironhide said, walking over to him. "If they're all in there, you'll need back up."

Pathbreaker shook his helm. "If they're all in there, I'm coming right back," he said. "One is easier to evacuate."

I rolled my optics. "Just don't get shot so much you are kicked out of the wave," I told him.

"I won't," Pathbreaker answered and transformed before flying toward the room we got ammo from.

I watched as he went into the ammo room and then turned to see if I could shoot anything while we waited for the all-clear. I shot a seeker out of the sky as it tried to follow my brother, not about to let him have to deal with more than he needed to.

"All clear," Pathbreaker reported a few minutes later as he landed back on the bridge. "But I would make it quick."

"Got it," Arcee said as I nodded.

I transformed and allowed Arcee and Bumblebee to climb on. It was easier to carry these two than Jazz and Prowl, since Arcee was much lighter and Bumblebee balanced his weight so that he wasn't weighing down one side more than the other. It still wasn't as fast a trip as if I was only carrying one of them, but I was the only flyer currently in need of ammo.

When we made it to the room, it was empty except for a cloaker that had apparently stayed when my brother left the room. Arcee quickly took it down as she and Bumblebee took up defensive positions while I got a few clips from the ammo depot. We took turns like this until a heavy started walking in the room from the stairs.

"Might want to hurry up there, 'Cee," I said, backing up slightly so I could use the wall as cover. "We got a heavy coming in."

"Just one moment," she said, doing something to the ammo depot.

**.:What are you doing?:. **Bumblebee asked, glancing over his shoulder at Arcee.

"You'll see," Arcee replied.

Her tone made me feel like she was about to blow something up, but I didn't have time to wonder as I shot a few shots off at the heavy to slow it down.

"We don't have all day, Arcee!" I said, glancing around when I heard the roar of another heavy from somewhere on the map. When I was satisfied it wasn't in or near the room we were in, I fired at the one that was again.

"Almost got it," Arcee said and I heard some clanking from the depot before a final click and clunk. "Got it."

I looked over in time to see Arcee picking up a rocket launcher that had apparently dropped out of the ammo depot. My wings twitched upward in surprise and I gaped for a moment before shutting my mouth. I continued to blink in surprise as Arcee hefted the large weapon and fired a shot off at the heavy, blowing it up along with a couple surrounding cloakers that had apparently been coming up by it.

**.:Whoa,:.** Bumblebee said.

"I did not realize you could do that with ammo depots," I said, surprise still evident in my voice.

"Now you know," Arcee replied with a smile, strapping the rocket launcher to her backplates. The weapon was almost bigger than she was. "Let's get back to the others before the next one decides we're good targets." As she spoke, she started for the door, walking past me as I still stood stunned.

I heard her footsteps stop and turned to see why and almost panicked when I saw the brute standing in our way.

"Well, if it's not one thing," I said, wishing I had a heavier weapon than the ones I did.

**.:Will a rocket work on their front?:.** Bumblebee asked as Arcee reached for the heavy weapon holstered on her backplates.

Before Arcee even had the chance to bring her rocket launcher to bear to find out, the brute stumbled forward, and a large sword pierced his chest before it was pulled back out.

"I'll...kill...you!" the brute called out, turning to show us a sparking back, which I promptly shot despite it already being about to blow.

"Really?" Pathbreaker asked as the brute died and points were added to my score. "I save you and you steal my kill."

I couldn't help the guilty, non-apologetic grin that formed on my face. "I couldn't resist," I said. "Everyone has stolen my kills during this."

"I'm not talking to you for ten seconds," Pathbreaker said in a deadpan, turning away and transforming. "Come on, Arcee, I'll give you a lift."

I shook my helm at him, chuckling to myself as the two headed back. "Come on, 'Bee," I said, transforming into my alt mode. "Best not wait to see if the next one will spawn here."

It was a short flight back to our spot where we rejoined the others in picking off the simulated Decepticons from above.

**~Area 51, Southern Nevada, Normal PoV~**

"So," Agent Fowler said, turning the slideshow off after giving Stark a rundown of their enemies. "Will you join us?"

Stark looked at Fowler and then at Hackett with his usual disinterested expression. "On one condition," he said. "I get to meet them today."

Fowler and Hackett shared a look before Fowler spoke again.

"Mr. Stark," he said. "It will take time to arrange for a meeting. We still have to go through all your paperwork to get you cleared."

"So...we leave at three?" Stark asked, spreading his hands out in question, looking unmoved by Fowler's statements of paperwork.

"Did you not hear me?" Fowler asked.

"Two then?" Stark asked.

Fowler gave an exasperated sigh and facepalmed. "No, Mr. Stark," he said.

"So what? Four? Five?" he asked. "I'm not agreeing unless I get to meet them today."

Fowler grumbled to himself. "Fine," he said. "We leave in a few hours."

Hackett looked between the Autobot's liaison and the super genius before focusing his gaze on Stark. "Is that always how you ask for things?"

Stark shrugged. "It always works, why change it?" he replied.

Fowler sighed. "It's going to be a long day," he muttered.

**~Simulator, Autobot Base, Jasper, Nevada, Shade's PoV~**

The time following when I stole my brother's brute kill was followed by a childish game of stealing each other's kills. No one seemed inclined to put a stop to it either, I guess probably because it was clear we were having too much fun. We had reached wave fourteen doing so to each other and not even Optimus, who joined us a couple waves ago, seemed inclined to stop our fun. The twins seemed to be doing their own kill-steal competition.

I glanced over to see where Pathbreaker was aiming and then aimed my Nucleon Charge Rifle at his target. With a carefully aimed shot at the simulated Decepticon, I took out its helm, effectively stealing my brother's kill.

Without stopping to see if he was looking at me, I switched my aim to a seeker that was flying in. In a kill-steal competition or not, I still needed to make sure we didn't get bombed from above anymore. It was now much too crowded in our spot to be able to dodge from the small explosions. Perhaps bringing everyone onto our bridge wasn't the best idea.

"Hey!" I said in protest as the seeker was sent careening by a shot not my own. I pouted over at my brother as he reloaded his weapon. All I got was a grin for my effort at pouting over my stolen kill.

I smiled as I shook my helm and returned to my sniping. I paused in my aiming to sidestep a shot fired off by a cloaker that had gotten off a shot before being shot down. It seemed that particular model liked aiming for me as the seekers liked aiming for Pathbreaker. Every shot fired off by a cloaker I ended up having to take a couple steps to the side or backwards to avoid.

When I saw the cloaker go down by Arcee's shot, I was about to go look through my scope again when I heard my brother's voice and looked over to see him giving Arcee a flat look.

"You just stole my kill," he stated matter-of-factly.

Arcee smirked. "Well, if you were a better shot, you'd have claimed that kill already."

"Touche," Pathbreaker replied.

I couldn't help the chuckle I let out as I returned to my scope to find a new enemy to snipe down. I lined one up in my sights and fired at it, frowning when it transformed at the exact moment my shot it and effectively nullifying what would've been a headshot. I fired at it again, feeling grateful that at least there wasn't the glitch where transforming made them completely immune to damage like in the game that inspired this simulation. The second shot took it down and I glanced over my scope in time to see my brother steal one of Arcee's kills.

"That one was already almost dead," Arcee said, glaring at my brother though I could tell it wasn't a serious glare.

"Sorry, what? I can't hear you over how bad a shot you are," Pathbreaker commented dryly.

Arcee's glare intensified briefly before she returned her attention to the enemies below.

From there it was mostly a competition between Arcee and Pathbreaker to see who could steal the most kills from each other. I merely shrugged and went back to just sniping whatever enemy I could get in my sights long enough to fire a shot before someone else killed it. I almost felt left out, but considering the fact I ended up stealing several of the twin's kills-disrupting their own game-I could live with it.

About three-quarters of the way through the wave, Pathbreaker moved to stand next to me in order to get a good shot on the Decepticon Arcee was shooting. I glanced over at him as I reloaded my rifle.

"Having fun with your girlfriend?" I asked, a tone of teasing in my voice and a grin on my face.

My brother rolled his optics. "She's not my girlfriend," he said.

"Did Ah hear dat right?" Jazz asked from the other side of me. "Pathbreaker has a girlfriend?"

"No, you didn't hear that," Pathbreaker answered, face carefully stoic.

I giggled before I realized it. "Yes he did," I said, grinning.

Pathbreaker turned to give me an unreadable look. "I don't claim what's not mine."

I looked at him, surprised at his seriousness. I had just been teasing him and I knew he knew that.

Before I had long to ponder it, my brother turned back to shooting at enemies. It was clear that the conversation had reached a good ending point and I wasn't one to press in these matters, so I let it drop, turning my own attention to the enemies below.

The wave lasted for another half hour before we finally killed the last of the enemies for the wave.

"We've made it to wave fifteen," I observed, looking around as we all jumped from the bridge to scatter to various ammo depots.

"It's pretty easy with everybot joining in," Pathbreaker said. "Remind me to program it to become harder as more bots join."

I nodded. "We do want it to be challenging," I agreed.

We got our ammo and then the four of us who could fly helped everyone back to our spots. We really pushed the timer for the next wave to begin, so we pretty much stayed where we landed. I ended up taking position behind the debris, facing what we considered to be the back of the map.

"Be ready," my brother said. "This wave will be interesting."

I smirked to myself, knowing what he was talking about. We had programmed it to spawn at least three destroyers this wave, maybe more depending on how quickly we managed to take them out. Destroyers were one of the largest bot frames known to exist. Their alternate mode was a large tank, though it was set that they wouldn't use that for there wasn't enough room, and in bot mode they stood at two hundred feet, four times Optimus's height.

We waited a few seconds into the wave before it was decidedly too quiet as the enemies had yet to spawn.

"It's too quiet," I said, wondering if that meant we would get a destroyer right off the bat.

I climbed up on top of the debris, ignoring the warnings to be careful from my siblings. I stood on the top, looking out across the empty map for any sign of the enemy.

"Where are they?" I wondered out loud as I looked around.

It was barely a moment after I asked that that the enemy made themselves known. I wouldn't have even seen them if it weren't for the stream of Nucleon Shock Cannon blasts that were now flying through the air right toward me.

"Oh! Destroyer! Destroyer! Destroyer!" I called out as I dived for cover behind the debris I was standing on just in time not to be vaporized. Granted in the simulator I would just be knocked out, but being hit by that in real time, there'd be nothing left.

"Destroyer, destroyer," Springer mocked and then started laughing. "You sound so pathetic!"

I glared at him, but Pathbreaker beat me to retaliating.

"That's it," he said. "I'm through with you. You are banned from our spot." To emphasize he even tossed Springer over the side of the bridge.

Silence reigned on the bridge, the only sound being Jazz and Stormbreaker taking out the rocket troopers that had decided to spawn on our bridge, as everyone looked at Pathbreaker in surprise.

After the silence reigned for about a minute, Optimus ordered some of the bots to go down with Springer to provide him some backup. Thankfully he allowed everyone to choose whether to stay up here or go to the ground floor. He also didn't make us allow him to return to the spot, likely seeing how his taunting me and hitting on the other femmes was harming our teamwork. I mean, my brother just threw him off the bridge, that definitely qualified as bad teamwork.

"Jazz, Stormbreaker, keep the bridge clear of rocket troopers," Optimus ordered after everyone had gone to their respective new posts. "Shadebreaker, keep an optic on the skies and take down any seekers before they have a chance to bomb us or the squad below."

I nodded and turned my optics to the skies.

"Everyone else on the bridge, focus fire on the destroyer and provide cover fire for the ground team," Optimus continued.

As the others did their respective tasks, I took aim at a seeker coming in from the back and shot it down. I then turned my attention to the front of the map where I saw three more seekers coming in. Glancing down at the destroyer, I saw that it was stomping a foot, which meant it was about to send a stream of nucleon shots.

"Watch out guys!" I called. "It's about to fire its Nucleon!"

I moved back enough where I was safe from the shots and then aimed quickly to take down two of the seekers that were incoming. The third one transformed and dropped to ground level before I could fire off the shot. I glared in the general direction of the seeker now out of my sight before looking for anymore in the skies. I shot down a couple more coming from the side and back, but couldn't seem to relocate the one that escaped.

"Did anyone get that seeker that avoided me?" I called down to the ground team.

"No worries, kid," Ironhide called back. "I took him down when he tried to ambush us."

I nodded in understanding before returning my focus to the skies.

**~Two Hours Later, Autobot Base, Shade's PoV~**

"That last wave was the longest wave in that entire simulation," Stormbreaker observed as we were all now just relaxing in the Rec Room.

"It's cause it takes so long to down the destroyers," I said from where I was sitting crosslegged on the floor, back against the wall. "And we programmed it to have at least three regardless of the amount of points achieved before the first and second go down."

"Eh, it was alright for something the sniper wannabe helped create," Springer said, tone condescending.

I glared over at him, but turned away to glare at his reflection in the blank tv screen. "You're not worth being offended over," I said.

"Alright now, don't start this again," Ironhide said. "Will you two ever get along?"

"Not as long as she keeps getting between me and Arcee or Stormbreaker," Springer said.

"I don't need to get in between you," I said. "There's already a solid wall of Vibranium there. It's just annoying listening to your crudeness."

"I'm annoying?!" Springer growled, glaring daggers at me.

"I said, don't start this again," Ironhide said, holding Springer back from getting closer. "If you two can't get along then one of you go elsewhere."

"I vote Springer leaves the rec room," Stormbreaker piped in.

"I second that," Arcee said, mostly ignoring Springer's presence.

**.:Sorry, Springer, but I agree with them,:.** Bumblebee beeped.

"Fine!" Springer grumbled and stomped out of the room.

"Wow, you two really don't get along," Sideswipe observed.

"Nope," I agreed, popping the "p" as I leaned back against the wall. "Anybody wanna do anything? It's been boring since we got out of the simulator."

"Come to think of it, there hasn't a single alert today," Sideswipe said. "I wish the 'Cons would do something so we could go kick their afts." He flopped backward dramatically, brushing Sunstreaker's shoulder in the process.

"Hey! Watch the paint, idiot!" Sunstreaker growled at his twin.

"Hey! I'm not an idiot," Sideswipe countered.

I sighed, shaking my helm as the two twins started bickering back and forth. At least their bickering was in good fun. I tuned them out and was actually starting to drift into a nap since no one really suggested anything to do, or if they did it was after I had inadvertently tuned everyone out.

I was just about in recharge when the proximity alarm started blaring. Since I had slowly tuned everything into background noise, the loudness of the alarm startled me and I fell slightly sideways before catching myself.

"Huh?" I said, blinking a moment before my systems came out of their shutting down mode. "Who's coming to visit at this hour?" I wondered.

"The kids maybe?" Stormbreaker asked.

"No, it's Wednesday," Arcee said. "They're going to something called church tonight."

My wings twitched slightly. I was slightly jealous of the kids getting to go, even if Miko didn't really want to go. "Must be Agent Fowler," I said, getting to my pedes. "Wonder what's up."

Arcee was the first out the door, and I allowed Stormbreaker to go out before me and I followed, Ironhide behind me. The others who had been in the Rec Room—Bumblebee, the twins and Bulkhead—also followed.

When we reached the Ops Center, Optimus and Ratchet were already there and the security camera's feed was showing on the main screen. Agent Fowler's helicopter was landing on the pad on the roof of our base, confirming my thoughts that it was most likely Fowler. After it landed it was only a few moments before our liaison stepped out of the helicopter, followed by Admiral Hackett, the man we had met who spoke about S.H.I.E.L.D.

I wondered if they had discovered some important information about MECH and had to share it in person. My thoughts were interrupted when a third man stepped out of the helicopter behind them. I blinked in surprise, focusing my optics on this third person, wondering who he was. When I recognized him, my wings twitched upward in surprise.

"Hey, that looks like Tony," Stormbreaker commented, voicing my thoughts.

"You know that guy?" Arcee asked.

"Know of him," I corrected. "He is a well known person among we nerds back in our home reality. Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man. He's a super genius and a superhero from the Marvel comic books. I had no idea he was an actual person in this reality."

"I wonder if he really is Iron Man," Stormbreaker wondered.

"Who is Iron Man, though?" Ironhide asked.

"As I said, a superhero," I said. "Basically goes around saving people and kicking bad guy butt. Much better at it than your average human."

"Hmph," Springer huffed. "He can't be that great."

"I didn't say you had to believe it," I said flatly, looking at Springer. "Besides, we don't even know if he is Iron Man in this reality, or just a super genius."

"You may determine that later," Optimus said. "Now, we must greet our visitors."

I looked up as the elevator dinged to announce its arrival on the upper level of the Ops Center. Agent Fowler walked out first, followed by Stark with Hackett taking up the rear. I watched Stark as he took off his sunglasses, curious about his presence and also curious to know whether or not he really was Iron Man. If he had the arc reactor that was said to be powering the thing keeping shrapnel from his heart, his suit kept the glow from it hidden very well. I would not know without scanning him or him showing it willingly and I was not keen on scanning him with no reason to.

"Agent Fowler, Admiral Hackett," Optimus greeted the two familiar faces.

"Optimus," Fowler nodded his own greeting.

"What's up? Who's the new guy?" Bulkhead asked.

"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Tony Stark," Fowler introduced as Stark stepped up to the railing and looked at all of us. His gaze paused on me and my sister, though I couldn't tell what he was thinking.

"He's going to be working with our science division for the most part," Hackett supplied. "He's being put on the project to study the effects of Energon on humans and how we can best protect our troops from them in the case we may encounter it. As such, the team will be required to work closely with your team's medic, Ratchet, if that is acceptable to you all."

"Psh," Ratchet said. "To do so would require the ability to house the team here." He said, waving his servo as if to wave the idea off. "We do not have the room for anymore of our people to be able to stay here, and there are no rooms suitable for human use."

I raised my servo. "We could expand the base," I suggested. "We'll have to do so anyway for the hangar, why not add onto the rest at the same time?"

"There's always the possibility that more Autobots will come to Earth, following Optimus's message just as we were," Ironhide said. "When that happens, this base will no longer be big enough as it is."

"That could be costly, but I can see what I can get the higher ups to agree," Fowler said. "We'll have to come up with some blueprints. You bots have anyone who could help with that?"

"Bulkhead was a construction worker before the war," Optimus stated. "He will have a good idea how big the areas for we Autobots will need to be."

Stormbreaker raised her servo.

"Yes, Stormbreaker?" Fowler said.

"If we expand the base, can we make suggestions for things to be added on?" she asked.

"We can take some, but I can't guarantee anything," Fowler replied.

Optimus nodded. "When will you need these requests?" he asked.

"By the end of the week would be ideal," Fowler said.

"I will have my team give any requests to Prowl," Optimus said.

"Must we allow them to work so closely with us?" Ratchet grumbled lowly.

"While you may not always view the humans in high esteem, Ratchet," Optimus said, looking at my teacher. "Their concerns are understandable. And I am sure our seeker trio would agree that it is in everyone's best interest if we see to it humans can be protected from the effects of Energon."

I nodded in agreement and I saw Stormbreaker do so as well out of the corner of my optic.

"Even considering the fact we were a freak accident, anyone else would've likely died if they had a similar incident," I said. "I'm still amazed we didn't." My wings twitched very slightly to show my frustration at not understanding why we had turned from that spill.

"That too is a mystery I would like to understand," Fowler said. "It would help to not only be able to prevent our boys from dying from Energon exposure, but also to be sure they won't change if they get covered in it."

"While the odds of your soldiers changing are astronomically slim, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to develop a defense against Energon's effect on the human body," Ratchet said, sounding more resigned than anything.

"In the meantime, we would like you to acquaint Mr. Stark with how you do things around here," Hackett said. "He wanted to meet you all before he started working with us. I trust we can trust you all to handle it properly."

Optimus nodded. "Very well, I will have one of my team give him a detour and introduce him to everyone," he said before looking at those of us present. "Any volunteers?"

My servo went straight up, even before my sister started enthusiastically jumping with her servo up and calling out to pick her. I shifted a wing slightly as if to hide her.

"Shadebreaker, Stormbreaker, since you two are both so eager, you two will give Mr. Stark his tour." Optimus said, looking at us.

"Yes!" Stormbreaker cheered.

Stark raised his eyebrows, his signature half grin, half indifferent shrug on his face. "Usually, I have to actually do something to make women have that reaction."

I couldn't help it, I broke into laughter at the very Tony Stark comment he made. Well, it made sense he would say it, but what made it funny enough to laugh so much was the expressions on everyone else's faces. My sister found it humorous as well as she stood there with a large grin on her face.

"What's so funny? If I said that you'd be shooting at me," Springer said, looking rather unamused.

"That's cause you're you," I said, sobering and glaring slightly at Springer. I held my servo out to Stark. "Now, if you excuse us, we have a tour to start." I paused as Stark climbed into my servo and I brought him up to sit on my shoulder. "Have a good day everyone who is not Springer."

With that, I walked off with Stark on my shoulder and a grinning sister bounding next to me. I glanced over at Stark. "I didn't actually ask you if you wanted a ride or to walk," I said. "I apologize."

Stark just shrugged as he settled on my shoulder. "Not the first time I was carried off by a woman. She was taller than you. Terrifying, since she was human."

I looked at him with a raised optic bridge. "I will ignore the absurdity of that statement and move on," I stated.

Stormbreaker chuckled beside me. "What? Is it too illogical for you?" she asked, grinning.

"Hey, it would've made Prowl glitch," I said in defense. "Besides the sheer impossibility of a human being taller than me as I am now, it would've had to been an alien of some sort."

"Hm," Stormbreaker hummed in thought.

"Anyway, we are straying way off topic from something that was probably a joke," I said.

"You are," Stark agreed. "It's all quite amusing, but aren't we on a tour."

"Oh right!" Stormbreaker said. "I wonder if Path' would want to meet him."

"He's probably in his lab," I said. "And I think Wheeljack is in his too. Best stay away until after an explosion. We'll start downstairs. 'Jackie seemed really excited about something when we got out of the simulator."

"Uh oh, maybe we should stay away from the labs," Stormbreaker said. "Excited 'Jackie equals a big boom."

"We'll probably find him in med bay later...again," I said, shaking my helm. "And to think his successes actually outnumber the explosions."

"Wheeljack's the inventor, right?" Stark asked.

"Our explosive inventor," Stormbreaker said, grinning as we arrived at the elevator. "He blew up his entire lab once and was cleaning out ash an entire day."

We stepped into the elevator and waited for it to take us down.

When we reached the lower level, we walked out into the hallway. We took him to the library first, since it was on one end of the base's current layout. We then took him to the Rec Room followed by the Safe and the War Room. We didn't take him into the War Room, as we weren't sure if we were allowed to yet, nor did we take him into the Wash Racks. Not only were we the opposite gender as him, but he really didn't need to see them, so if he were to see them a mech would have to show him.

"And that's pretty much it for this level," I said, looking upward. I hadn't heard an explosion yet, would it be safe to show him the labs?

"Yup," Stormbreaker said, nodding. "The library's the best part. And the simulator in the Safe is really fun." She grinned.

Stark smiled. "I'd like to see if I could hold my own in there someday," he said. "But hey, can I ask you two a personal question?"

"Sure," I said, tilting my helm to look at the man sitting on my shoulder. "Depending what it is we may even answer." I grinned.

Stark chuckled. "I heard you used to be human, is that true?" he asked.

"Yeah," Stormbreaker answered. "We're still trying to figure out what exactly caused our change."

"There is no known logical reason why we didn't die when that Energon spilled on us," I explained. "I've been working on figuring it out on the side of my medical training and all evidence points to Energon being deadly to humans."

"Yet for us, we changed into Cybertronians instead of dying," Stormbreaker said. "The question is why?"

"If we find that answer, we might understand why we're even in this universe," I said, looking ahead thoughtfully. "We were born in a different reality, one where all this, and you as well, is just fiction. Whatever brought us here and the reason why we changed instead of dying are connected, I believe. Maybe it's not all that important, but I would feel a lot better knowing."

"I see," Stark said, not looking affected at all by what I'd said. I felt him shift on my shoulder to lean on his hands. "Perhaps I can help with that alongside my work."

"A super genius like you helping me figure it out?" I asked. "We'll find the answer in no time then." I grinned over at him and he shook his head.

We took him back up to the next level and showed him around the rest of the base aside from the labs. When we were done, we still hadn't heard an explosion from Wheeljack's lab, but we figured we could at least stop by our brother's lab, since he didn't reinforce the walls after all. So we went there first, getting in easily since I always made sure I knew the security code in case of emergency.

"Why do you get to know the code, but not me?" Stormbreaker whined as I punched in the code.

"Because you will press a button that will inevitably take us all to an alternate dimension where Decepticons are the good guys and Autobots are the bad guys," I said, a tone of teasing coloring my voice.

Stormbreaker pouted, but I could see the humor written on her face. "Well, I can't deny that," she said. "I love pressing buttons." She said, grinning.

I chuckled as the door opened and we walked in. The lab looked about the same as the last time we had entered it, but there were more projects being worked on than before and a couple ones looked completed. Our brother was at his work table, running tests on a scrap of metal without looking up. Arcee was with him, testing out how a custom weapon fit in her servos.

"Hey, you two!" Stormbreaker said happily, bouncing over to them. "Whatcha working on?"

"Seeing if my new rifle is the same size as it was in the blue prints," Arcee said, looking down the weapon's sights before examining its side.

"And I am testing this metal to see if it will make good battle armor," he replied and then watched as the substance he dripped onto it melted the armor a bit. "And that would be a no."

"I'd say so," I said. "Imagine how uncomfortable melted armor would be." My wings twitched to show my discomfort at the idea. "Hey, did you get any ideas about our food tasting Energon?"

"I have some processing over there," Pathbreaker said, pointing to a beaker of pinkish blue liquid. "It's not ready yet and not sure if it's a success either." At this point, he noticed the man sitting on my shoulder.

"Oh, this is Tony Stark," I said, introducing them. "And this is our brother, Pathbreaker, and our friend, Arcee. Tony's gonna be working with us to find a way to protect the humans from the effects of Energon."

"Good plan," Arcee said. "Would help to make sure other humans don't end up like you three."

Pathbreaker nodded in agreement. "We certainly would welcome your help," he said. "I haven't much time to work on it myself." He glanced around his lab.

"I see that," Stark said, looking around, taking in the numerous weapons and other projects in the room. "So, you make weapons." He observed.

"I do, though only weapons for we Autobots. We need every advantage we can get against the Decepticons," Pathbreaker said. "But Optimus is also pretty strict about sharing our technology and I don't blame him. Humans are quite self-destructive."

"Well, in the end, Cybertronians can be as well," I said. "I mean, thanks to Megatron's war-mongering Cybertron is no longer inhabitable."

"But our planet is healing, very slowly," Arcee said. "It will be a great cycle when it's finished repairing itself."

"Wait," Stark said. "The war destroyed the planet, but you still believe you'll see it restored?"

We all nodded.

"Cybertron is ravaged by war, but before they left Cybertron, Optimus met Primus," Arcee explained, helping Stark from my shoulder so he could stand on the table. "Primus told Optimus that he would lead the Autobots back to Cybertron and into an era of peace."

"I fully believe that it will come to pass, and I'm far from the only one who thinks in the same way." I piped in. "I believe in Optimus and I believe that there will be a day when we can all live in peace."

"Until then we will be doing our best to help make that dream a reality," Stormbreaker said.

"And Storm' already has a crush on a bot here," I said, teasing heavy in my tone as I indicated my sister.

"Guilty as charged," Stormbreaker said, not ashamed at all about her crush on Jazz. This caused Arcee to raise her optic ridges slyly, but she made no comment.

"Which brings me to a question no one else will answer," Stark said. "How you make robot babies?"

Our reactions were instantaneous. Arcee and Pathbreaker just stared blankly at the man, expression almost exactly alike, while I face-palmed and my cooling fans kicked on at a low enough level that no one would even notice it. Stormbreaker had a completely different reaction, which was to laugh at my reaction.

"Oh my gosh! Your face!" she laughed, pointing at me.

I sighed heavily, shaking my helm at both my sister and the human standing on my brother's work table.

Before we reacted more, we were interrupted by the sound of an explosion.

Well, at least it saved us from actually having to answer Stark's question. That was not a topic I really wanted to revisit until I had a mate, if I ever had a mate.

Not only that, but I don't think my brother would ever want to discuss this subject with Arcee in the room.

—

The credit song for this chapter is going to be We're in this Together by Nine Inch Nails, the trailer song for the Avengers. www .youtube watch?v=X2II7TDEAps


	11. Chapter 10-5 and Note

**A/N:** Hey everybody. This a really short update, not even a true chapter. But I needed to do something so you guys would know I'm still here and still writing my stories. It's not just this one I am still working on, but all my stories I have going right now. I am working on the next chapter for this story, it is just really slow in coming and I am extremely sorry for the delay.

I am terribly sorry. I have no excuse. During the holidays I was busy, but it's been longer than that. Before the holidays I had trouble writing at all except every now and then I could write for a few hours. Then during the holidays I worked a lot and still had writing problems. The writing problems have continued. It's been over six months since I last updated a story, being It's a Prime Adventure, and almost a year for this story. Across the Galaxy could've been updated, but as I have stated in it, it's on hold until I reach a certain chapter in this story. To be honest, it depresses me and with all the other factors in my life that causes me to get depressed, it's all the more frustrating to have this be one of them.

Again, I am sorry. I have had such a hard time getting a writing swing for so long. I do not mean to make you guys wait and probably think I have abandoned my stories. I have not abandoned anything. I am still here to give you guys content. I am just struggling with getting that content written. I hope to get better with it soon. Maybe when I get in a less stressful atmosphere I can write better.

So yeah. I'm still here. Still writing my stories. Just having trouble getting back into the swing of things. I apologize for the wait you guys have had to suffer and for any wait in the future. But know I will not quit any of my current stories until they are completed! This I promise you! And I don't break my promises!

**~The Scene~**

"This place is huge for a dwarven ruin," I commented, looking around.

"Just because they're small doesn't mean they won't build giant structures," Pathbreaker pointed out.

"Also, I'm seeing more Cybertronian inscriptions as well," Stormbreaker said, pointing out some where she was examining a wall to my right.

"Hm," I hummed thoughtfully as I walked towards a doorway.

We had been sent to investigate one of the locations that had been marked on the map we had found in the dwarven ruins a couple months ago. When we had free time, occasionally we would choose a random sight to investigate, but this particular time was a mission. A Cybertronian signal had been detected here and we needed to find out what it was.

We were already pretty deep within the ruins, having gone through several empty passageways until we found this room filled with more writings on the walls. It was pretty big, but so far nothing interesting had happened.

I stepped through the doorway and felt the block sink underneath my pede until there was a click. I froze and looked around warily.

"What was that?" I wondered out loud.

"What was what?" Pathbreaker asked as he and our sister moved to join me.

"The block I stepped on appears to have been a pressure plate, but nothing seems to be happening," I answered.

"Well, whatever it was, it must be broken, just continue," Stormbreaker said and gave me a light push.

I stumbled into the next room, but as soon as my pede left the pressure plate, things started to happen. A rumbling started, followed by much of the floor moving to disappear into the wall, including part of the floor that I was standing on and where my siblings were standing. My siblings both retreated into the previous room while I was left standing precariously on a very narrow pathway that lead from one doorway to the other. On either side of me was a deep pit that contained electrified spikes on the bottom of them. There was probably enough electrical current down there to short-circuit even the Prime's circuits.

"Um, sis? You might want to come back here," Stormbreaker said as panels opened on the walls to either side of the room.

Before I had a chance to respond, arrows started shooting from the opened panels and I had to duck to avoid being hit. I flattened my wings against my back to avoid them being hit as well as I nearly laid flat on the narrow path. My servos would've held onto the ground as if it were a pole if it weren't for the fact the ground continued on downward.

"Well this is fun," I said flatly, gazing up at the arrows flying by, just missing me. It reminded me of the barb wire obstacle on our obstacle course back in the Safe.

The arrows themselves seemed to vary a little bit. Some of them crackled with electricity while others didn't outwardly appear to be anything that would do any harm to a Cybertronian. Still, though, I didn't want to risk being hit by any of them. The occasional bite from a stray spark was enough for me.

I took a moment to consider my situation. I could either crawl backwards to regroup with my siblings, which would prove pretty difficult considering, or I could crawl forward and we could either regroup on the other side or I'd find a way back from there. Maybe there would be a button on the other side to deactivate the trap.

"I'm going on!" I called to my siblings. "Maybe there's a way to deactivate this on the other side!"

"Hopefully, cause I won't make it through unscathed," Pathbreaker commented, referring to the fact that he was larger than me as well as our sister. I was barely underneath the arrows and I was the smallest of the three of us. Storm' might—'might' being the keyword there—have been able to duck under the arrows like I was, but Path' had no chance.

With that, I started to move forward, blocking out Stormbreaker's reminder every now and then to be careful. I had to focus entirely on what I was doing in order to both remain low enough to not be hit by the arrows and remain balanced so I didn't fall off. At some point, I lost track whether it was her telling me to be careful or just her voice in my helm saying it. Either way, it was a slow trek and it took me a full ten minutes before I reached the other side.

"Finally," I breathed when I pulled myself completely out of the line of fire for the trap.

I stood and looked around the hallway for anything that might shut the trap off and found it on the eastern wall. At least, it was the eastern wall if we were still going north. I wasn't entirely sure as I had lost track of how many turns we had taken since entering the ruins. Either way, when I pressed the block back, the arrows stopped shooting and the floor returned to its normal state.

"Perfect," I muttered, satisfied with the way that had turned out.

Stormbreaker and Pathbreaker made their way across the room, being wary of anymore possible traps laid out in the room. When they made it across, we continued on our way through the ruins, being more careful now that we knew there were traps.

"You know, it's starting to seem like the dwarves knew about Cybertronians," Stormbreaker said.

"From the writings and the fact the traps seem geared toward giant machine-like aliens, I'd say they did," I agreed.

"They were probably friends with the ancients," Pathbreaker said. "There are likely traps geared toward smaller beings as well and how much weight is placed on the pressure plates determines which trap is triggered."

"Likely," Stormbreaker and I said simultaneously.

We continued on through the hallway. The hallway was pretty long and we had to weave our way through a few traps to get through it. When we thought we were through, I heard something rolling toward us from behind and paused a moment.

"Does anyone besides me hear an Indiana Jones moment coming?" I asked.

"You mean that scene where he's running from a boulder?" Stormbreaker asked, looking behind us and up.

"I think you're right," Pathbreaker said.

"Run! Or rather fly!" Stormbreaker said and transformed before taking off through the hallway.

I sighed as my brother followed after her, thankful that the hallway was rather large. I nearly hesitated too long but took a running dash forward before transforming and following after my siblings, the large boulder right behind me. Said boulder appeared to be made of metal and probably had some kind of hidden trick inside, or something like that. I wasn't entirely keen on finding out, in case there was.

"**Uh, guys, there's a problem,"** Stormbreaker sent over our intercom.

"**You mean besides the giant metal boulder behind us that may, perhaps, probably have some kind of death trap attached to it?"** I asked, speeding up a little bit as the boulder picked up speed from momentum.

"**Yes! There's a room of lasers in front of us, the doorway into said room is tight for Path' AND the boulder will likely be on our tails up until said room,"** Stormbreaker explained in a surprisingly calm tone. **"And the lasers are changing and numerous."**

"**So an average day for us, then." **Pathbreaker said.

"**We'll need to figure out a plan before we reach it,"** I said.

"**This is gonna sound crazy, but let's just fly through it," **Stormbreaker said.

"**What?"** I asked, not sure that was a good idea.

"**Too late! Going through!"** my sister said and I saw her disappear through the doorway.

I was sure my brother would've been shaking his helm if he was in bipedal mode. He followed her shortly with me not far behind. The boulder slammed into the doorway right behind me, but the wall held up and the giant metal object stopped chasing us. With that out of my concern, I could focus solely on avoiding the lasers.

_Because it's always been my dream to be in a laser circus,_ I thought with a sigh.

I spun, ducked and weaved through the lasers, paying very close attention to the existing lasers as well as the walls to see if I could predict where they'd show up. I noticed the ones that would activate next would start glowing about half a second before they did. With my attention fully on the lasers, I wasn't able to keep up with where my siblings were without sacrificing time to figure out where I needed to fly. Even paying full attention to the task, I was still singed a number of times by just scraping past a laser. I lost the very tip of the top part of my tail fin to one such scrape. Needless to say I was thankful the hallway on the other side didn't appear to be trapped immediately.

When I transformed and landed, I was met by a sight of two equally singed siblings.

"My armor is singed," Pathbreaker said, giving our sister a deadpanned look.

"I told you we needed a plan," I said, inspecting a singed spot on my arm. Part of it was on my shade-changing silver and I wondered if I would be able to fix that or if I'd now have a spot that didn't change shade. I'd have to ask Sunstreaker if there was anything he could do. I wasn't necessarily vain, but I rather liked my shade-changing armor.

"There was no time!" Stormbreaker said in defense. "Besides we all lived. Now come on, lets find what we came here for. The signal's from the next room."

"It better be worth it," I commented to myself.

Whether it was worth it in the end was up for debate. What we found wasn't necessarily useless, but it wasn't something that would give us an advantage over the Decepticons either.

"A recipe?" I asked, at the screen back at base.

"For Energon gummies," Stormbreaker said, grinning.

"So we made our way through booby trapped ruins for the ability to make gummies," I said, blinking. "And Path' is still cleaning his armor from the lasers."

"Energon gummies are good though," Sideswipe said, looking at the screen over Ratchet's shoulder. "I remember before the war, there was this sweets shop that had tons of different flavors of gummies."

"That was my favorite shop," Jazz commented.

Stormbreaker and I shared a look before grinning. We knew what we were going to spend the next few hours doing.


End file.
